


Presumptuous

by ohsehunseoul



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Bullying, M/M, side!woosan, slight homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29716965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohsehunseoul/pseuds/ohsehunseoul
Summary: "Don't even bother trying to talk to him.""He's a freak. Why does he always look like that?"It wasn't uncommon to hear people talking about Park Seonghwa. Nothing Hongjoong overheard was positive so, naturally, he and his friends kind of just believed the rumors--it's not like they would ever actually talk to him.Cue Seonghwa's band Aurora losing their drummer and Mingi auditioning without realizing whose band it was. Seonghwa's friend circle and Hongjoong's friend circle intertwine and Hongoong quickly learns that the rumors about the musician couldn't be further from the truth.
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is something I have been working on for a long time. Originally, it was supposed to be a purely social media au, but the fic writer in me kind of didn't let that happen. It will have elements of a social media au, as you will see.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoy it! I will post actual social media aus (admittedly, they have quite a bit of writing too) on my Twitter (cbxhan). Thank you and let's continue to support ATEEZ on their comeback!

Character account overviews. 

A post on each of their IGs to get an idea of their personality: 


	2. Through the Grapevine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes there are people you hear negative things about that are just as you expected.

“You would think it wouldn’t be so fucking hot out, given it’s December.” Mingi out his hand over his eyes to block out the sun.

”Global warming, bro.” Yeosang uncapped his water bottle and took a drink.

“No kidding.” Hongjoong sighed and rolled up his sleeves. Even though they were hot, they always gathered at the picnic tables on campus to have lunch together.

The table next to them was loud and Hongjoong was trying not to eavesdrop.

“There he is. God, he’s always walking around like he’s on a mission to hurt someone.” One of the people at the table, Jun, said.

Hoongjoong looked up to see who they were talking about. If Hongjoong remembered correctly, his name was Seonghwa. He had heard about the male before because he had a pretty decent following on YouTube for his band. The other two guys in the band seemed nice enough from what he heard, but Hongjoong didn’t know them. Hongjoong didn’t even know the name of the band. Unfortunately, most students from Treasure High went to the college Hongjoong and his friends attended because it was the local college in the area of Busan where they lived. Hongjoong hadn’t gone to Treasure, as he went to another local school, but Yeosang and Mingi went to Treasure and sometimes talked about the students. They had met Wooyoung when Yeosang and Mingi were freshman in college, Hongjoong a sophomore.

“I see people haven’t grown out of their bullying phase.” Mingi sighed. “They’ve given that guy shit for ages, everyone has.”

“He’s still as weird as he was in high school. Remember when he performed that weird alternative song at the talent show?” Another student Hongjoong didn’t recognize said. “I’m glad we booed him off stage.”

“The only people who care about him are his stupid little followers.” A red-haired student spoke. “I refuse to give them views.”

”Me too, dude.”

Wooyoung ran his index finger around the rim of his soda can. “I feel kind of badly that I avoid that guy purely because of what people say.”

“Well, Mingi and I had a few classes with him and he literally glared at the desk all day and only spoke when he was forced to. Maybe he just hates everyone.” Yeosang said. “Don’t know. Don’t really pay attention to him.”

Hongjoong hummed. “I think I have a class with one of the band members. Yunho?”

“That guy seems nice.” Wooyoung said. “Anyway, what are you guys up to after this?”

”There’s a band that’s looking for a drummer and I kind of want to try out.” Mingi propped his head dip on the palm of his hand. “Aurora, I think?”

”Aurora? That’s a cool name.” Wooyoung took a bite of an apple. “Need someone to go with you?”

“It’s okay, I’ll probably flop anyway and want as few people as possible to see.” Mingi responded.

—————

“Wow, that was,” Jongho paused, “Really good. Thanks for auditioning,” He paused again to check the clipboard in front of him, “Taemin. We’ll contact you if we choose you.”

Taemin picked up a broken drumstick drumstick from the ground and sheepishly handed it to Jongho. “Sorry about that.” He said.

Seonghwa watched Taemin leave and he heaved a sigh.

“Fuck Jaehyun for leaving and fuck Seunghyub for asking him to join his band.” Jongho crosses his arms. “Why would he leave us? We’re gems.”

“Well, probably because Seunghyub is actually getting signed to a record and we scrape by with our YouTube earnings.” Yunho grinned. “Just a thought.”

Seonghwa checked his watch. Maybe they should give up. 

Just as Seonghwa was about to say they should head back, a loud voice came from the door of the studio they rented out. Usually, they practiced in Seonghwa and Jongho’s apartment, but they weren’t about to invite a ton of random people to their home, so they rented a studio.

“Sorry!” A male with nearly obnoxiously red colored hair said. “I’m not late, am I?”

“Not at all.” Yunho responded. “What’s your name?” He picked up a pen to write his name on the paper attached to the clipboard.

“Mingi? You’re Song Mingi, right?” Seonghwa chimed in. “You went to Treasure, didn’t you?”

“Oh shit, Seonghwa! I didn’t realize this was your band. Yeah, that’s me. I’m surprised you know my name, since you were a grade above me.” Mingi grinned and continued towards the group.

“Nice to see you again. Yeah, this is my band. Yunho and I met in junior high, but he didn’t go to Treasure, and we met Jongho a few years back. Our ex-drummer was a classmate.” Seonghwa said.

”That’s cool. I kind of feel badly that I’ve never listened to your music. It’s just that everyone said you were weird and it wasn’t good, so,” Mingi realized what he said, “I mean, I’m sure you guys are great! You did well in that talent show until people started to act up.”

Seonghwa forced a smile. He didn’t like to think about how embarrassing the situation was for him.

“Well, Mingi, show us what you got.” Yunho gestured to the drum set before he handed the other male a pair of drumsticks.

While Mingi played, Yunho, Seonghwa, and Jongho exchanged a glance. They were all thinking the same thing.

Once Mingi finished, Jongho spoke. “So that was fucking amazing.” He said.

“Incredible.” Seonghwa smiled. “You’re amazing. So, we do open mic once or twice a week at the bar near the college, Wings. Do you know where it is?”

“Yeah. Some of my buddies work at Sapphire cafe, which is like, across the street from it. I’ve seen it a lot.” Mingi got up and put the drumsticks on the table in front of Aurora.

”Good. Well, we have open mic tomorrow and we would love for you to play with us and test the waters. If it goes well and you’re happy with being in our band, we would love to have you.” Seonghwa said.

“Shit, for sure, dude.” Mingi beamed.

“Cool. Let me get you some sheet music for you to look over. We sometimes play other songs, too. Why don’t we get your number and we can discuss what songs to play, so we are all on the same page?” Yunho rifled through an unzipped backpack he had next to him. 

Mingi exchanged information with Aurora and took the sheet music Yunho handed him.

“Damn,” Mingi put the papers into his bag, “You’re so nice. I have no idea why people talk shit about you. I thought you were some asshole that hated everyone, so that’s why you always looked so upset. That’s clearly not the case.”

“Seonghwa is a really shy person.” Yunho said. “I’ve known him for quite some time and I can confirm that he is, indeed, a sweetheart.” He pat Seonghwa on the back.

“That’s good.” Mingi grinned, “Well, I’m excited for tomorrow. Mind if I ask some friends to come to the bar?”

“Of course. Invite away.” Jongho gave Mingi a thumbs-up in approval.

—————

“Alright, the guys told me to meet them in the back, so I’ll see you later.” Mingi waved to his friends once they entered the bar. He had to raise his voice slightly to be heard over the ambient music.

“Sure, good luck!” Hongjoong encouraged Mingi. All Mingi told them was that his audition went well and he was playing with the band that night, nothing else.

“Should we get some drinks while we’re waiting?” Wooyoung ran a hand through his hair as he examined the bar. “This place is huge.”

“Good idea.” Yeosang crossed his arms. “I can’t believe you guys dragged me out in public. Honestly, this is a crime.”

”Mingi will definitely appreciate it.” Hongjoong pat Yeosang on the back.

“He better.” Yeosang couldn’t help but smile.

“Sooooo...” Wooyoung thumbed behind him to where the bar was and started backing up before his friends could say anything, “Alcohol?”

“Wait-“ Hongjoong tried to stop Wooyoung.

“Careful-“ Yeosang begun to speak.

”Behind!” An unfamiliar voice said, grabbing Wooyoung’s waist, so he didn’t trip over the stranger.

Wooyoung himself and turned to apologize. “I’m so sorry.”

The male sent a dimpled grin in Wooyoung’s direction. “It happens more than you’d think.” He kept a tray of drinks perfectly balanced in one hand.

Wooyiung could only nod while the stranger left.

“Who was that?” Wooyoung questioned. “I like how I tripped over the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, of course I did. It could only happen to me.” He sighed.

“Well, judging by the uniform and, oh, I don’t know, the tray of drinks, I would assume he’s a bartender here.” Yeosang smirked. “Good job, by the way.”

“Shut up.” Wooyoung glared at Yeosang.

Eventually, the the three found spots at the bar and sat down.

“I’ve never seen you three here before. First time?” Of course the bartender Wooyoung ran into stood behind the bar cleaning a glass.

“Yeah, our friend is playing tonight.” Hongjoong responded.

”Ah, who in Aurora are you friends with?” The bartender asked, the red streaks in his hair complimenting the apron of his uniform.

”He’s playing with the band tonight to see if he wants to join. I guess they lost their drummer.” Yeosang fiddled with the salt shaker on the bar.

“Nice.” The bartender smiled. “What can I get you guys?”

The three ordered and the bartender brought over their drinks. “If you need anything else,” He said, “My name is San.”

Hongjoong pointed at himself and then down the the row to name his friends. “Hongjoong, Yeosang, and Wooyoung.”

“Well, I hope I’ll see more of you guys. Feel free to come see me whenever. Or, you know, the people you actually want to see.” San chuckled.

San walked away to attend to other patrons and the group waited patiently for Mingi to come out.

Not long after, they were surprised to see Mingi come out with Seonghwa and the rest of the band. Of all groups, they weren’t expecting Mingi to be playing in Seonghwa’s band.

“Oh shit, it’s Seonghwa.” Yeosang set down his drink.

Hongjoong watched the group set up. Mingi’s bright hair stood out from the Aurora’s black hair almost comically. Seonghwa kept his eyes glued to the floor until he took out his guitar and started to tune it. He wondered why Seonghwa was so apprehensive to look at anyone. He must have been a really angry person for people to say such bold things about him.

“Hey, everyone.” A taller male that Hongjoong vaguely recognized tapped on the microphone in front of the stage. “Thanks for having us again. Please welcome Mingi, he is going to be our drummer tonight.” He said. “I’m Yunho, the other guitar player is Seonghwa, and the bass player is Jongho, if you have never seen us before. I hope you enjoy the show.” Yunho smiled. He looked friendly, Hongjoong thought.

Yunho stepped back from the microphone and played a few chords before the rest of the band joined in. If it wasn’t for Hongjoong personally knowing Mingi, he would have had no idea that it was Mingi’s first time playing with Aurora.

“They're really good. Dare I say I’m actually....happy....I left my house?” Yeosang kept his eyes glued on the group.

“That’s your friend, the red head?” San came over and leaned over the bar to speak to Wooyoung. The music was loud and vibrated throughout their bodies.

“Yeah, that’s him. He’s good, huh?” Wooyoung looked over at San.

“Definitely.”

San lingered and listened for a little bit before he continued bartending.

———-

“So, you’re joining, right?” Yunho cracked his knuckles. They were sitting in the back, just after they performed. Aurora always took some time to wind down together after their shows. There was a sense of euphoria that came from playing in front of people that they were sure Mingi was experiencing.

“If you guys will have me.” Mingi smiled.

“We would love to.” Seonghwa smiled in return, something not many people saw.

“Great.” Jongho closed the case for his bass. “Then we will definitely share our schedule and we will need some time to just hang out. I think I know too much about these guys.” He joked.

”I’ll head out first. See you guys.” Seonghwa packed up his guitar and exited.

”I promise he’s nothing like people say.” Jongho turned to Mingi. “It’s beyond me that people are really bullying as adults. I guess they’re just mad because they peaked at fourteen.”

Mingi laughed at the comment. “Right? Congratulations bro, you got laid before everyone else when you were fourteen. Get off of your high horse, you’re not special.” Mingi rolled his eyes.

———-

“I wonder when Mingi is going to come out.” Hongjoong commented, finishing off his drink.

Wooyoung shrugged. “He’s probably charming Aurora, to be honest.” He scrolled through his Instagram. “I found the members of Aurora’s Instagrams. He may be rude and literally never look up from the ground but, damn, is he pretty.” He held out his phone to show Hongjoong and Yeosang the photo.

“He really is.” Hongjoong couldn’t lie. His visuals stuck out like a sore thumb, even when he was around people who were already attractive.

“Speak of the devil.” Yeosang muttered.

Seonghwa headed out and to the door when San called for him from the bar.

“Yo, Hwa! You’re not going to stay?” San called out.

Seonghwa adjusted the strap across his chest for his case and begrudgingly made his way to the bar.

“Um, no, I’m going to go.” Seonghwa spoke in a quiet tone.

San frowned. “Next time, have a drink on me.”

Seonghwa smiled as a reply. Hongjoong was a bit taken aback at how nice he looked when he smiled.

“You guys were great.” Wooyoung looked at Seonghwa.

Seonghwa’s smile faltered when he eyed Wooyoung. He muttered a ‘thanks’ and left the bar. When he left, Wooyoung had a bewildered expression in his face.

“And why were we defending him? Did you see that look he gave me? I swear, he just stared into my soul.” Wooyoung said.

Honestly.” Yeosang tapped his fingers on the acrylic of the bar. “I guess he hasn’t changed.”

“At least their music is good.” Hongjoong replied.


	3. Overcrowding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingi convinces his roommates to let him throw a party.

“Do you want me to complain about it being too cold today, or will you yell at me?” Mingi asked as he and Yeosang walked to the cafe where Hongjoong and Wooyoung worked part-time.

“Maybe you shouldn’t eat ice cream if you’re cold.” Yeosang looked from the ice cream in Mingi’s hand and to him, quirking a brow. “And I know you’re going to get an iced coffee.”

”Bisexuals only drink iced coffee. It’s a thing.” Mingi scooped up some ice cream in his spoon. “It’s a thing,” He repeated, “Look it up.”

“Umm, I don’t think it is.” Yeosang grabbed the handle on the door of the cafe. “You’re just making that up.”

“I’m not.” Mingi said with his mouth full. “You’re just homophobic.”

”I’m literally not straight. How could I be homophobic?” Yeosang rolled his eyes. “You’re stupid.”

“Wooyoung,” Mingi’s voice filled the cafe, earning stares, including one from Wooyoung and Hongjoong’s boss, “Yeosang is clueless.” He said in a quieter tone once he got to the counter where his friends were.

“Why?” Wooyoung questioned.

“Don’t even ask.” Yeosang rolled his eyes. “Two iced coffees, please.”

Mingi glared at Yeosang. He was about to open his mouth when he saw Wooyoung and Hongjoong’s boss glare at him for the nth time. He was used to Mingi coming in and talking ten octaves too loud. “Sorry, Seokjin.”

”Mr. Kim.” Seokjin corrected. “I don’t know you like that.” He said with no malice. Seokjin was a nice guy that the group usually had friendly banter with. However, he could be serious when he wanted to.

When the crowd died down in the cafe, Hongjoong and Mingi sat with their friends.

“So, here’s an idea.” Mingi slid his cup along the condensation on the table, “House party.”

“House party?” Yeosang raised a brow. “What and why?”

“Oh, come on, it will be fun!” Mingi continued. “I want to get to hang out with Aurora and invite some classmates and stuff.”

“Not all of us are social butterflies.” Yeosang shook his head.

“Come on.” Mingi frowned. “Please? Why did we rent out a house if we aren’t going to throw at least one party?”

“We rented a house because I didn’t want to have to walk up any stairs. And I was sick of having to listen to the neighbored have super loud sex every night.” Yeosang shuddered at the memory.

“I mean, that can still happen.” Mingi grinned. “Kidding.”

”I’m kind of down.” Wooyoung nodded in approval. “It would be fun. Kind of sad I don’t know that bartender well enough to invite him.” He joked.

Hongjoong wasn’t sold. He wasn’t an extreme introvert per say, but he did have moderate social anxiety and it didn’t help that he had a script to look over. He wasn’t participating in a play, but he helped write a script when one of the other students fell ill.

“What night are we talking?” Hongjoong asked.

“Tomorrow. What better night than Friday, right?” Mingi said.

“I have to work on something for one of my classes. If I finish early, I can join.” Hongjoong responded. He knew fully well that, even if he finished, he would stay in his room.

“Yeosanggggggg.” Mingi sang. “Pleaseeeeee?

Yeosang groaned. “Fine, only because you’re my friend. I’ll even try to socialize.”

”I love you.” Mingi got up to hug Yeosang.

Yeosang held up his hand. “I’m going to stop you there.”

\--------------

Seonghwa had never been to a party before. Well, he tried once, but it immediately went south when some of the football players that were there gave him a hard time. Since then, he swore he would never go to another party.

When people started to target Seonghwa based on his style, he was angry. He was upset that wearing dark clothing and having a different hairstyle garnered negative attention. It didn’t help that he was the only person at his high school that was considered “alternative”, whatever that meant. Seonghwa and Yunho had a band in school, but it was nothing official. The other members were guys that didn’t go to school with them, but they met at a music store Yunho and Seonghwa frequented. Wooseok and Kino were great people, but the two fell out with Seonghwa and Yunho when they moved to Gwangju when Seonghwa was a senior and Yunho a junior. They were the only people that Seonghwa felt comfortable being around and like he wasn’t being judged. Wooseok and Kino were cousins, so Yunho and Seonghwa were bummed that apparently both of them decided to forget about their friends.

The anger Seonghwa had about being judged turned to shame and embarrassment and he became very self-conscious and even more closed off at that point. It took Seonghwa a while to warm up to Jongho and Seonghwa was okay with San. For some reason, Mingi immediately came off as someone warm, despite accidentally offending Seonghwa, so he tried his hardest. They really needed a new drummer and Seonghwa didn’t want to miss out on that because of his self-proclaimed “atrocious” personality.

Yunho opened the door of the house and loud music filled their ears. There were quite a few people at the party, but Mingi’s tall stature made it easy to find him. Yunho dragged along Jongho and Seonghwa to greet their new drummer.

”Guys!” Mingi grinned, cheeks already rosy from the alcohol, “I’m glad you made it!”

Mingi shoved drinks in their hands and pushed them towards some couches.

“Now you can properly meet my band mates. Everyone, this is Jongho, that’s Yunho, and this is Seonghwa. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, yeah?” Mingi plopped down next to Yeosang.

“Hey.” Yeosang nodded at them. “I don’t know like ninety percent of the people here so, if you guys are cool, please stick with me.”

“I don’t know about cool but I’d like to think we aren’t half bad.” Yunho sat down as well.

Seonghwa followed suit and kept close to Yunho. He didn’t know what to do.

Seonghwa watched the group interact and it wasn’t half bad, to his surprise. Everyone seemed nice.

“Is this seat taken?” A familiar voice asked.

Wooyoung turned to the voice and nearly choked on his drink.

“San?” Wooyiung managed to say.

“That’s my name, I’m pretty sure.” San smiled. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to get a drink. Save my spot, will you?”

When San walked away, Wooyoung’s gaze shot to Mingi.

“How? What did you do to get him here?” Wooyoung stammered.

“Easy.” Mingi shrugged. “I went to the bar and invited him. Told him both of the guys, besides me, that he met would be there. He was down.”

“Oh, you wanted to invite San? We could have.” Jongho looked at his band members. “He’s really nice.”

“Aww, are you talking about me?” San ruffled Jongho’s hair while he walked back.

“Touch my hair again and I’ll break your arm.” Jongho glared at San, who sat next to Wooyoung.

”It’s good to actually see all of you.” San said, mainly acknowledging Seonghwa. “I feel like I don’t see much Seonghwa.”

“I’m sorry.” Seonghwa felt a pang of guilt. “It’s just, you know, I get kind of stressed. I’ve wanted to see you, too.” He smiled and San returned the smile with a dimpled one.

“I get it, trust me.” San learned his head back on the cushions. “It gets to be too much for me sometimes, and that says a lot.”

Seonghwa took a few drinks of whatever Mingi gave him. It tasted horrible.

“Oh, and I wanted to apologize because I think I maybe came off rude when I saw you guys at the bar. I really appreciate you guys coming out. I’m just not really good at being around a lot of people once the performance high goes away. I’m really sorry.” Seonghwa said, surprising Wooyoung and Yeosang.

“It’s all good, dude.” Wooyoung responded. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot is all.” Seonghwa said.

Yunho looked over at his best friend and threw an arm around his shoulder. He was proud of Seonghwa for going out of his comfort zone. He knew Seonghwa better than anyone else, so it hurt to know that people thought ill of him.

Seonghwa managed to involve himself in the conversation a bit before he excused himself to the kitchen. The drink didn’t get better the more he drank it, due to contrary belief, so Seonghwa needed to either doctor it to make it palatable, or get a completely new drink.

Seonghwa entered the kitchen and looked at his options when he heard someone clearing their throat next to him.

“I didn’t think I would see your face here. Well, the back of your head. It’s not like you’ll look at anyone.”

Just to spite him, Seonghwa looked up to make eye contact with Baeko, earning a shocked expression from the other male.

“You’re still so fucking weird.” Hyunwoo raised his brow. “What are you even doing here?”

”Aww, you’re going to make him cry.” Baekho pouted his lip. “Don’t you realize you’re making everyone uncomfortable?”

Hyunwoo laughed. “He’s going to hurt himself if you say anything else. Don’t want to trigger him. He might write a song about you.”

“Knowing how he is, it would probably be a love song.” Baekho grinned.

Seonghwa scoffed and quickly exited the kitchen. He needed to get away from people. He went up the stairs and was going to go into the bathroom, but it was occupied. He really didn’t want to go into someone’s room because it was a total invasion of privacy, but he had no other option. Seonghwa didn’t want to leave and abandon his friends, so he found the closest room and opened the door before closing it and sighing as he leaned against the door.

“Mingi, I told you that I’m not going down there.”

Seonghwa froze and slowly turned from facing the door to look over at the source of the voice. Seonghwa wasn’t exactly sure who it was because their back was facing him, since they were sitting at a desk facing the window and not him.

When no one responded, the person turned around. It was the male Mingi was friends with, but Seonghwa didn’t catch his name.

“I’m so sorry.” Seonghwa quickly said. “I didn’t realize. I know I shouldn’t go into people’s rooms but I just, um, I’m sorry.” Seonghwa reached for the door handle.

“Hey,” the blonde male stood up, cautiously approaching Seonghwa, “It’s okay, don’t worry.” He smiled. “You can stay in here.”

Normally Seonghwa would turn down the offer and bolt, but he didn’t have a choice. Besides, the guy didn’t seem that bad.

“Thanks. Normally I wouldn’t and, again, I’m really sorry.” Seonghwa met the male’s gaze. “I’m Seonghwa, by the way.”

“I know.” The male smiled. “Hongjoong.” He said. “You can sit.”

Seonghwa nodded and sat on the edge of the bed where Hongjoong gestured for him to sit.

“Uh, are you busy? With schoolwork or...” Seonghwa trailed off, hoping Hongjoong would pick up.

“I basically finished revising something a while ago, but I’m pretending I’m busy, so I don’t have to go downstairs. Social anxiety.” Hongjoong chuckled at himself. “Which is most likely the reason why you’re here.”

“Something like that.” Seonghwa sighed. “I feel badly for ditching the guys, but I can’t go back down right now.”

Hongjoong frowned. He figured out why Seonghwa didn’t want to join the party again.

“Did someone say something to you?” Hongjoong questioned, finally taking a seat in his desk chair in front of Seonghwa. “I don’t mean to pry, but I know people like to talk about you a lot. That’s why I knew who you were.”

“Yeah.” Seonghwa felt embarrassed. He didn’t know why he didn’t stop talking. “It’s frustrating. I don’t even know what I did wrong.”

“They’re probably fucking assholes who get off on making others miserable.” Hongjoong said, shocking Seonghwa. “I mean, I’ll be honest, I did think maybe you could have been mean or entitled and that’s why you didn’t talk to people, but that’s clearly not the case. They’re just dickheads. I can’t say to ignore them, but I feel for you.”

Seonghwa managed a small smile. “Thanks.” He said. “I don’t look at people because I’m kind of shy and I don’t want people to say something rude if they catch me looking at them.”

”A little shy is an understatement.” Hongjoong tried to joke, earning no reaction. “It’s not your fault. Their loss if you don’t look at them, anyway. You’ve already proved me wrong in, what, five minutes?”

Seonghwa laughed lightly. “Thank you. I didn’t think badly of you, but I’m glad to know that all of Mingi’s friends are nice.” He relaxed. “Thanks for letting me stay for a bit. Maybe I should grow a thicker skin and deal with whatever else they say.” Seonghwa started to get up.

“Wait,” Hongjoong was about to reach out to grab Seonghwa’s arm, but he stopped himself, “Do you like video games? We can play some and then I can muster the courage to go down their too and accompany you. If you need an out, I got you.”

“Wow, I really owe you. Thank you so much for being nice to someone like me. I’m a complete stranger.” Seonghwa said.

”No, you’re a friend of Mingi. You’re not a stranger.” Hongjoong shook his head. “Now, onto the tough question, want to play in the GameCube or the PS4?”


	4. Drowning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people never change.

Yunho was the first person to notice Seonghwa hadn’t come back.

“Have you guys seen Seonghwa?” Yunho scanned the room. “I should have gone with him.”

Some of Mingi’s friends had gathered to sit with them, so one chimed in.

“Saw him earlier. Why do you guys have him in your band? You would be far better without him.” Baekho said.

“He’s really weird.” A girl who tagged along with someone else added.

“Who even are you?” Mingi mumbled.

“My friend in high school thought he was cute, for some reason, and asked him out. He didn’t even give her the time of day.” She rolled her eyes.

Hyungwoo laughed. “Shocker. I heard he’s gay anyway.”

“So what?” Yunho couldn’t let them talk badly about his best friend. “If he is or isn’t, why should that matter? And you should honestly shut your mouth. You have no place tasking about him like that. Clearly you’re too infatuated with him to get over yourselves and realize you’re talking like twelve-year-olds, or maybe your brain hasn’t developed since then. I advise you stop talking right now.” He glared at them. “All of you.”

“Oh yeah?” Hyungwoo raised a brow. “I shouldn’t have expected you to be decent if you spend your time with him. He’s fucking weird and I’m pretty sure he’s in love with me, or something. That would explain a lot. We used to push him around and he literally let us. Talk about pathetic."

Yunho stood up. “Do you want to continue talking out of your ass, or do you want me to break your nose? You choose.”

Baekho set his drink down and tried to size Yunho up, although he was more than a few inches shorter than him.

“No kidding you’re still pressed. Clearly you haven’t grown since junior high. Your height probably isn’t the only thing that hasn’t gotten bigger.” Yunho sent a sickeningly sweet smile in Baekho’s direction.

“Alright.” Mingi finally stood up. “I invited you to a party and you’re acting like assholes. I thought you guys were cool.”

”We aren’t the problem.” Hyunwoo responded. “Clearly, you see the issue.”

”Ah, they’re over there?” Hongjoong pointed to the left hall after the stairs where Seonghwa was heading. When they neared, they saw an altercation.

Seonghwa cautiously approached and Hyunwoo quickly saw him.

“There’s the man of the hour.” Hyunwoo stood up. “Look at what you started. Your little boyfriend is trying to act all tough and defend you. How honorable.” He threw an arm around Seonghwa’s shoulder, causing him to shudder.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Seonghwa quietly responded.

“What?” Hyungwoo harshly grabbed Seonghwa’s chin to lift his head up. “Look at me when I talk to you.”

“No, absolutely not.” Yunho pushed Baekho to the side and grabbed Hyunwoo by the collar. When Baekho tried to break free, Mingi grabbed his arm and shook his head.

The rest of the group had no idea what to say and just watched in shock and bewilderment.

“Isn’t it tiring to mess with someone who hasn’t done anything wrong?” San finally spoke. “You don’t know the first thing about him. Plus, don’t talk about sexualities when I clearly remember you sliding me your number at the bar. You aren’t slick, chief. Just because Seonghwa probably didn’t want to fuck you doesn’t give a reason for you to mess with him. It’s just immature and, honestly, you’re embarrassing yourselves.”

“Don’t talk to them like that.” The girl yelled.

“Shut up, you moron.” Jongho rolled his eyes. “You’re literally irrelevant.”

“I wouldn’t want to fuck him even if he were the last person left on earth.” Hyunwoo’s face reddened.

“Then take your prepubescent self and leave.” Yunho shoved Hyunwoo.

“Yeah, get the fuck out.” Mingi pulled Baekho to the door.

“You can’t kick us out.” The girl scowled.

“Literally WHO are you?” Hongjoong interjected. ”Get the fuck out, just like those douchebags, and don’t come back. I don’t give a shit if you want to get wasted and try to sleep with eighty percent of the guys here because, frankly, if it happened in my bed, I would beat you ass. Now, maybe go touch up those horrendous roots when you go home and think about your life decisions.” Hongjoong crossed his arms.

Wooyoung laughed. “You know it’s serious when Hongjoong comes out.”

”Excuse me?” The girl stood up. “I’ll have you know what I won third place in five different beauty pageants when I was younger.”

”Notice how they weren’t first place?” Hongjoong frowned. “And when you were younger. I’m assuming you maybe took better care of yourself then. You’re, what, thirty-five? That was a long time ago, sweetie.”

“I’m twenty-one!” She practically yelled.

“I can recommend an anti-aging cream for you.” Hongjoong smirked. “Run along.”

The girl stormed past Hongjoong and, in a last fit of retaliation, threw her drink at Seonghwa.

“You ruined everything.” She said before leaving.

”Yeah, I’m going to walk them out and make sure they don’t come back.” Yunho said. “Be right back.”

As they were walking away, they could hear Yunho. “You like having a semi-straight nose? Well, kiss it goodbye because I’m about to make you regret ever stepping foot into this house.”

Seonghwa was completely and utterly embarrassed. The fact that such a scene was caused because of him made him feel horrible.

“I’m so sorry.” Seonghwa said. “I’m going to go home.”

“Wait, Hwa, we will just go together. No one is mad at you, right guys?” Jongho eyed the group expectantly.

“No way.” Wooyoung responded. “I actually want to apologize because I never realized how badly you were treated and I, unfortunately, wasn’t particularly nice when speaking about you either.”

”Same. I mean, their immaturity is astounding.” Yeosang massaged his temple. “That girl’s voice gave me a headache.”

“Did that guy really try to give you his number?” Wooyoung asked San, who was grinning smugly.

“Yep. Can’t forget him because my first thought was to be offended that someone so disgustingly hideous would try to hit on me. I’ve gone for some below-average guys but that would be stooping too low. No thanks.” San rested an arm on the armrest of the couch.

Hongjoong felt badly, too. He didn’t realize Seonghwa was treated so poorly.

“You can go back to my room if you want.” Hongjoong approached the other male. “If you don’t feel well.”

“It’s okay.” Seonghwa said. “Thanks. Just let Yunho and Mingi know that I left. Maybe I’ll see them on my way out.”

Wooyoung tried to stop him, but Jongho shook his head.

“Don’t bother. He probably wants to be alone. I know he’s really embarrassed right now.” Jongho swirled his drink around in his cup.

“But he literally didn’t do anything wrong.” Yeosang responded.

“Story of his life.” Jongho shrugged. “Why do you think keeps to himself?”

“Hey.” Yunho paused next to Hongjoong, Mingi not far behind. “Where’s Hwa?”

”Oh, he left.” Seonghwa responded. “He wanted me to tell you.”

“Thanks.” Yunho put his hands on his hips. “I’ll have to text him. I’m Yunho, by the way.”

“Hongjoong.”

\----------

\------------

“How was practice?” Hongjoong asked when Mingi walked back into their house, haphazardly tossing his bag on the couch. Mingi went over to where Hongjoong was in the kitchen and watched him cook.

“It was good. Thank god their drummer didn’t steal the drums because I never had any of my own.” Mingi said.

Wooyoung came into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “Want anything to drink?” He asked.

“Nah.” Mingi responded. “Thanks, though.”

”Oh yeah, how is Seonghwa? I still feel badly that he left early yesterday.” Hongjoong picked up a stirring spoon from the counter.

“He’s good. We met at his and Jongho’s place. It’s really nice. Oh, and we filmed an introduction video for me.” Mingi took out his phone. “Want to watch?”

Just as Mingi held up his phone, Yeosang came up behind him and snatched his phone from his hand.

“Yes, I do.” Yeosang grinned. “I want to make fun of you.”

Yeosang unlocked Mingi’s phone by holding it up to Mingi and went to his YouTube app.

“It’s posted under Seonghwa’s YouTube, but it’s for Aurora.” Mingi said, not bothering to stop Yeosang.

“Holy shit, they have over a hundred thousand subscribers?” Yeosang’s eyes widened when he looked at the screen.

”Crazy, right? I wasn’t expecting that many. I guess a lot are foreigners like them because they covered some English songs a while ago.” Mingi responded.

“That’s sick.” Yeosang clicked on the newest video and the group huddled around the small screen on the phone.

”Hey,” The screen lit up with Seonghwa’s smiling face, “Welcome back to our channel.” He said.

“I’m glad he doesn’t smile too often. He’s too pretty.” Yeosang sighed.

“I’m glad you barely leave the house because that’s how I feel when we go out together.” Mingi glanced at Yeosang.

Yeosang grinned smugly.

“He really is so handsome.” Wooyoung said. “I wonder if he’s this happy in all of their videos.”

“Pay attention, I’m about to show up!” Mingi hit Wooyoung on the back, earning an ‘oww’ from the shorter.

Jongho took the camera from Seonghwa and filmed the two of them before getting Yunho in the frame.

“So, maybe you guys saw the Instagram posts we made, but we officially have a new drummer. He performed with us recently and it went super well. You guys won’t even miss he who shall not be named.” Jongho smiled when Yunho laughed behind him.

Jongho turned the camera around and showed Mingi, who waved at the camera.

“Hey, I’m Mingi. I’m really excited to be part of Aurora with these guys. Maybe I’ll have to dye my hair dark, so I don’t make myself obvious. The more you notice of me, the more you’ll realize I’m actually really shitty on the drums.” Mingi grinned.

“Oh, stop. You’re great.” Jongho handed the camera to Yunho and went behind Mingi, placing his hands on the taller’s shoulders as he stood behind him.

“The only reason you will stick out is the same way Yunho does. You’re clearly taller than us.” Seonghwa laughed.

“Please, we all know the visuals for this group are already insane. I’m sure all of you compliment each other well.” Mingi winked at the camera.

“I mean...” Wooyoung momentarily looked up from the screen and at his friends, “You’re not wrong about that.”

“Also, I don’t know why we never mentioned this sooner, but you can catch us perform at Wings in Busan a few times a week. We will usually post on social media the night before. Sorry we don’t have a set schedule. Things come up.”Jongho said to the camera.

“We mainly just wanted to get you guys to meet Mingi and learn a bit about him. If you want to cheer him on, please do come see us live.”

The video continued with Aurora asking the newest member questions and Mingi surely charming the audience.

Once the video ended, Wooyoung gave a look of approval to Mingi.

“I’m glad they’re treating you well and Seonghwa isn’t actually an asshole.” Wooyoung said.

“He will become more sociable with you guys, I’m sure. He apologized like thirty times for last night.” Mingi pocketed his phone.

Hongjoong frowned. “We should try and invite the guys around to make them feel more welcome and show them that we don’t think differently about him because of that situation. He was so sweet when he walked into my room. I was really surprised.”

“Well, do you think we should all go to Wings tomorrow night? Maybe even tonight since none of us have classes tomorrow?” Yeosang suggested.

“Look at Yeosang being the one to suggest an outing.” Wooyoung grinned. “I’m up for it. I hope San is working tonight.”

“I’m sure you do. You guys got along really well.” Mingi said.

“We all got along with him.” Wooyoung corrected.

Mingi rolled his eyes before taking out his phone again.

“Want me to message them?” Mingi asked.

“I was actually going to try and DM Seonghwa. I wanted to get his number last night but, you know, weird circumstances. If he doesn’t see it within a few hours or respond, then you can message them.” Hongjoong focused back on the food he was making.

“Deal.” Mingi set his phone on the counter.

“And before you ask, yes, I made enough for everyone. Are you guys hungry?” Hongjoong asked the group, already knowing the answer to his question.

\------


	5. Detour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guys go out together and meet the...interesting...bar owner, as well as tell bad ex stories.

“Alright.” Hongjoong clapped his hands hands together. “Are you guys ready? Remember, I’ll be the designated driver if you all want to get trashed.”

“If Mingi and I start doing shots, you know it’s all over.” Yeosang put on a denim jacket over his black turtleneck.

“And you will pass out first.” Mingi fixed his hair while he held up his front-facing camera. “Guaranteed.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Children.”

Hongjoong drove the group to Wings. He realized he never got Seonghwa’s number, so it would be easier for Mingi to message them when they got there, instead of relying on Instagram messages.

When they entered, they were greeted by a middle aged man who was definitely wearing clothing a few generations too recent for him.

“How do you do, fellow kids?” The man said. “Is this your first time here?” He asked.

“No, we have been here once before.” Yeosang eyed the man, a look of distaste clearly evident on his face.

“Well, welcome back. I’m the owner. You can call me Jinyoung.” Jinyoung winked and took a pair of glasses off of where they hung on the collar of his shirt and put them on. “What is it that you young gentleman came here for?”

“To...drink...” Wooyoung responded, unentertained.

“Want to have a drink with me? No one gets properly initiated in Wings without a drink with their good buddy, Park Jinyoung!” Jinyoung paused to eye Hongjoong’s outfit. “Those pants. Amazing, where did you get them?”

“Dude, I have no idea. I’ve had these since, like, high school.” Hongjoong answered.

Jinyoung laughed. “Man, my pants from high school...where could those be? The only ones I still have are really cool. They’re PVC and completely see through. The ladies loved it, you know?” He winked.

“No, I absolutely do not know.” Wooyoung cringed.

“There you guys are, thank goodness I found you. Your party is over here.”

San came to the rescue and ushered them to follow him.

“San, where are you taking my friends?” Jinyoung glared at his employee.

“Sorry, Mr. Park! Their party is waiting for them. Aurora, you know?” San turned back to Jinyoung, still walking away.

“Oh, Aurora? Very well. I’ll let you off this time.” Jinyoung said before practically pouncing on some patrons that just entered.

“Oh my God.” Yeosang breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“And also sorry.” Wooyoung said. “That’s your boss?”

San rolled his eyes. “Yep.” He said. “Don’t get me started.”

San led them to the other side of the bar and sat them at some free stools.

“I imagine you came here to meet Aurora, right?” San asked.

“Yeah, we did.” Mingi responded. “None of them have really gotten to know Seonghwa especially, so I’m trying to get everyone acquainted.”

”It took me a while to get to know him, too.” San reminisced.

They talked with San a bit more before the rest of the group, except Wooyoung, broke off and talked about something else.

“Any new numbers today?” Wooyoung joked, taking the beer San handed him.

“If you don’t count the ones scribbled on the bathroom walls, no.” San laughed. “Not tonight.”

“Damn. No hot date? Bummer.” Wooyoung took a drink of the beer.

”You’re telling me you didn’t come here just to seduce me?” San smirked. “I’m disappointed, to say the least.”

“You caught me.” Wooyoung played along. “It was my plan since the day I first met you. Is it working?”

“Let’s just say that the only number I’ll take if someone leaves it is yours.” San winked. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Wooyoung watched San walk away, grinning to himself.

“Boo.”

Yeosang practically jumped out of his seat and glared at the person behind him.

“I will not hesitate to murder you.” Yeosang said. “If you do that again, I can’t guarantee you’ll wake up tomorrow morning with all of your limbs.”

Jongho jokingly sneered. “You don’t even know where I live.”

“Alright, alright.” Yunho walked over. “Jongho can only talk the talk. But, anyway, how are you guys?”

“Good.” Mingi responded. “We met the owner of the bar.”

”I am so sorry.” Yunho said. “He once tried to join us on stage. I pray every time before we go on stage that he won’t be here and try it again.”

“Gross.” Yeosang shook his head. “He reminds me of my dad...and that’s not a good thing.”

“Where’s Seonghwa?” Wooyoung asked.

“Oh, this girl who comes to our shows a lot started chatting him up. They’re just over there.” Yunho pointed through the crowd at a blonde girl talking to Seonghwa.

“I’ll go get him.” Wooyoung sat up.

“But he’s talking to someone.” Mingi said.

“But I don’t care.” Wooyoung responded and headed over to Seonghwa’s direction.

Seonghwa eventually followed and got close to approaching the group, before the girl reached for his arm. At least they could eavesdrop now.

“So, anyway,” The girl continued, “The first show I went to, I wanted to talk to you so badly, but I couldn’t catch you. I’ve been coming here three nights a week to find you.”

“Oh, really?” Seonghwa smiled. “Well, you found me.”

“That’s right!” She playfully hit his arm. “You responded to me before on Instagram. Yoora, remember?”

“Oh...yeah, totally.” Seonghwa was clearly lying. “I remember.”

”I knew you would.” The girl, Yoora, beamed at Seonghwa. “You’re even more handsome close up. On stage, you always look sexy, but you’re both at the same time.”

”I wouldn’t say that I’m either of those things, but thank you.” Seonghwa responded politely.

“Yeah, of course.” Yoorra didn’t remove her hand from Seonghwa’s bicep. “Your stage presence is so hot and you don’t even realize it. That’s even better.”

Seonghwa forced laughter.

It made sense that people looked for Seonghwa after the shows. His stage presence was indeed something else and he came off extremely charismatic in the videos Aurora posted.

“This is hilarious.” Yeosang whispered. “He’s one of those people that makes it hard to tell if he’s actually interested in her or not. He’s not acting like it but, apparently, this guy is pretty unpredictable.”

“So many people thirst after him, it’s insane.” Yunho shook his head as he laughed. “I mean, even before the band. Being friends with him is a huge blow to the confidence sometimes.”

“You’re hot, too, you guys all are.” Wooyoung said. “We were just talking about this.”

“True, we did indeed do that.” Yeosang responded honestly.

“Can confirm.” Hongjoong added.

“Well, damn, thanks.” Yunho blushed.

“I know we’re cute.” Jongho said. “Anyway, let’s make Seonghwa a little bit more miserable before we interject, if needed.”

”Do you want to grab a drink with me? If it’s too loud in here, we can pick up some beers from the convenience store and go back to my place.” Yoora suggested. “I live super close.”

”No way, Jeffrey Dahmer.” Yeosang said under his breath.

”It’s not too loud here. I’m used to it, since we play here a lot.” Seonghwa responded, still polite.

“Perfect.” Yoora smiled. “Offer is still up for a night cap at my place, though.” She winked. “So, are you single?”

Seonghwa coughed. “Umm, yes?”

”Why do you sound unsure?” Yoora joked. “Oh, right, you probably treat all your fans like your girlfriends, right? That’s cute, but I mean an actual girlfriend.”

“I will die of second hand embarrassment if we have to watch any longer.” Hongjoong stood up and headed towards Seonghwa and Yoora.

“Seonghwa, there you are! Are you ready for that interview? We’ve been waiting for quite some time.” Hongjoong practically stood in between the two. “Everyone else been ready for the past twenty minutes.”

“Interview?” Yoora crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Really?”

”Uh, yeah. I have do go do that, so, yep.” Seonghwa slowly responded.

“Want to take my number?” Yoora asked. “You can message me after.”

”Sorry, we have to go now! The crew is going to kill me if we take a minute longer.” Hongjoong grabbed Seonghwa’s wrist and dragged him away. Yunho motioned to the stairs and Hongjoong nodded in understanding.

“Find me later! I’ll be here with a few of my girlfriends.” Yoora said to their backs as they walked away.

Once they got upstairs, Hongjoong dropped Seonghwa’s wrist. “I’m sorry, but I was losing braincells while watching that.”

”Thank you. I was in flight or fight mode that whole time. Mostly flight.” Seonghwa heaved a sigh of relief and adjusted his glasses that fell down the bridge of his nose.

The group sat down and relaxed into the comfortable couches.

“I mean, she was cute, right?” Wooyoung asked. “I mean, that’s what a straight person would think, right?”

When there was silence, Wooyoung spoke again. “Can someone straight answer, please?”

More silence.

“Anyway, I don’t think Hwa would go for her.” Jongho laughed. “To put it simply.”

“Never dated? Scared? Virgin?” Yeosang started to list off reasons why he wouldn’t be interested.

“Hey, don’t press.” Hongjoong held up his hand to stop Yeosang.

Yeosang calmed down and began to chat. Eventually, San came up and brought them drinks. He told them his shift was ending soon, so he could join them if they wanted. The group quickly accepted the offer.

….

“No, Oh my God. You’re joking.” Jongho nearly choked on his drink, causing Yunho to lightly hit his back. “He did not.”

“I swear!” Wooyoung waved his beer bottle around. “Hongjoong and Mingi hated him.”

”Of course I fucking hated him! He was annoying as hell and smelled like a wet dog all of the time.” Mingi responded. “He was gross.”

“I don’t remember this guy at all.” Yeosang looked from one friend to the other, confused.

“You don’t remember Tan? The worse ex out of any exes that could ever exist? He put Youngjae to shame.” Hongjoong eyed Yeosang, surprised.

“Oh, that’s right. Honestly, I was probably too holed up in my room crying over my dead end career in computer engineering to remember. Thank you graphic design for saving my ass.” Yeosang shrugged.

“Oh, come on, he didn’t smell like wet dog.” Wooyoung whined. “You’re making me look bad for dating him.”

Wooyoung didn't hear San come up the stairs and the other watched, entertained.

"You should feel badly for dating him! Don't you remember when he broke my Xbox?" Mingi questioned.

"Good. You should have been playing on the PlayStation anyway. Xbox is for losers." Yeosang said in a nonchalant manner.

Mingi shot up. "You take that back!"

"Fight after." Yunho said. "Tell us more about the ex. Besides the fact that he had a collection of feet pics from randos on the internet."

"You would think that was the worst, right? No. One time, we went out on a," Wooyoung held up air quotes, although the beer bottle in one of his hands made it difficult, "Walk. But, no, we couldn't have just enjoyed a nice walk. Did I mention we were on vacation together in Seoul? Anyway, he took me to some nasty ass river and started wading in the water to find fish and told me he wanted to have a different kind of date where we grilled some river fish under the bridge, where it smelled like complete ass, may I add. I asked if he was joking and I had never seen him look so serious. We went back to the hotel after because, shocker, he didn't catch any fish, and he refused to shower because he liked the 'aquatic smell'. I swear, I wanted to book it as soon as possible, but I couldn't get back on my own, obviously. He tried to hook up that night and I kept pushing him away because, call me crazy, but I don't think I've ever wanted to have sex with someone who smells like an aquarium." He paused. "Long story short, he had an open wound on his leg and got an infection and he died. The end."

When the group stared at Wooyoung in disbelief, he burst out in laughter. "I'm joking. He did get an infection, but he didn't die. I don't know what he's up to now, I broke up with him as soon as we got back to Busan."

"God, and I thought my exes were bad." San said. Wooyoung opened his mouth to speak and quickly closed it. He didn't know San was there and he was mortified.

"You're done with your shift?" Jongho asked. "Come on over, dude."

San nodded and joined them. Of course, he sat next to Wooyoung.

"Someone please talk about a bad ex before I die." Wooyoung buried his face in his hands.

"Why is it okay for us to hear it, but not if San does?" Yeosang grinned.

"Don't even start." Wooyoung lifted his head enough to stare daggers at Yeosang. Please."

"Okay, okay." Jongho set down his drink. "I'll go." He said. "Well, this certain ex decided that they wanted to get matching tattoos, right? Already, I was put off because this person was an insane person to date. but I stayed with them for obvious reasons, if you know what I mean. Anyway, they designed this god awful design that was our names together and then 'to death do us part'. Note, we had been dating for, like, two months. The had already told me they loved me and they planned out when and where we would get married. I already knew we weren't going to last, so I didn't say much. Anyway, when they showed me the completed design, I laughed in their face because, well, it was barely legible and they misspelled the majority of it. It's not like those were difficult words that they used. So, I said fuck no and went to sleep that night only to wake up to them trying to give me a fucking stick and poke of the design. Needless to say, I left as quickly as humanly possible."

"What the fuck. Why do you guys have such horrible exes?" Mingi said. "I didn't think people could be that bad."

"Didn't you date that one person that got arrested because they lowkey kidnapped someone?" Hongjoong said, earning a look from everyone in the group.

"Well, they didn't kidnap me, so that's besides the point." Mingi responded. He looked over at Seonghwa. "What about you? I'm sure you have lots of stories."

Seonghwa shook his head. "Not really." He kept his lips to the brim of his cup. "I've never actively gone out to find people to date."

"What about that girl that was chatting you up downstairs?" Yeosang asked. "Can't you start with her?"

"How do I put this," Yunho sighed. He looked at Seonghwa before shaking his head, "Never mind."

"If you're apprehensive about saying you're gay, I can tell you a funny story to make you feel better." San adjusted his glasses. "The first week I worked here, I was obviously a new face, so a lot of people approached me. This one sleazy frat douchebag, surprisingly not the one from your party, was really annoying about it. He kept asking me to go to the bathroom and he would meet me there. Little did he know, this guy I had been kind of interested in that frequented the bar was sitting right next to him and was really put off by him...or at least I thought. Well, I rejected the frat guy for the nth time and then went to the bathroom to find them in there together. You draw the conclusions. Anyway, I walk in and am obviously taken off guard and they ask me to join. Yeah, having sex on top of a urinal sounds exactly like the way I want to spend my Thursday night. Anyway, that's why you should never crush on patrons because they'll probably disappoint you." He looked around the group, pausing on Wooyoung. "Well, don't crush on most patrons."

"Why do men..." Yunho sighed. "But...how did you know?"

"Know what? That they were fu-" San started.

"No," Seonghwa interjected, "I think he means, how did you know I’m into guys?"

San shrugged. "Takes one to know one. Plus, I can't really pin any of you as heterosexual of the year, so take that as you will."

"Shit, this is the last group you should be afraid to come out to." Wooyoung laughed. "I literally just talked about my shitty ex like it was nothing. Maybe I shouldn't be so open about it. I might get beaten up, or something."

"Not around here." San shook his head. "A few of the other waiters here are gay, too. No one cares."

Hongjoong felt better. He had been wanting to tell a story about one of his exes that he knew the group would like, but he didn't want to make them feel weird.

"Then, if that's okay, I'll share a story." Hongjoong sat cross-legged on the couch. "My ex wasn't bad, per say, but he was an idiot. I met him in a ceramics class freshman year and we were making some coil pots. Well, he thought it would be cool to put some exacto blades in the clay to get the imprint. He happened to forget about it and I was throwing the clay to soften it and guess who got three exacto blades in the hand? You can still see the scars." Hongjoong held out the palm of his right hand. "Although I bled a ton and compromised building anything for the rest of the semester, I still didn't break up with him. The end of us was when he was staying over at my dorm and I left for FIVE minutes to get the food delivery when he text me saying he accidentally spilled soda on my laptop. I was coming back up, so I told him to leave it and he said he took care of it. I get back and he washed my laptop...in the sink..." Hongjoong face-palmed at the memory. "I don't think I've ever been as mad as I was that night."

"Well, clearly none of us are good at picking them." Jongho said. "At least we have funny stories to tell."

"Yunho was my fake boyfriend for a couple of weeks when we were trying to get this person to leave him alone." Seonghwa said. "That was weird."

"Oh my God." Yunho laughed. "I forgot about that. Didn't we even have to kiss to get them to go away?"

"Yes!" Seonghwa laughed as well. He was feeling a little more comfortable with the group. "I don't think I've ever touched you as much as I did those weeks."

"Touched?" Wooyoung questioned. "Don't tell me you-"

"No." Yunho and Seonghwa quickly said at the same time.

"Hands." Seonghwa clarified.

"I mean...you guys would kind of be a cute couple." Yeosang said.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, Seonghwa and I aren't really the types of people to try and date anyone. I mean, if it happens, that's cool, but no rush." Yunho ruffled Seonghwa's hair. "We're happy being best friends."

"Exactly." Seonghwa nodded in agreement. "If we meet people in the future, that's fine, but I'm not deprived of a relationship or anything."

"You two are actually wholesome, I guess." San said. "Teach me your ways."

"Don't tell me you're some pervert." Wooyoung jokingly pushed San. "I'm too pure an innocent to be near someone like you."

"Well, if any of you actually want to meet someone, I-" Jongho started to speak.

"We don't want to date you." Mingi said.

"I wasn't going to say that. Rude." Jongho glared at Mingi. "I was going to say that I know some decent people."

"Why don't you date them then?" Wooyoung questioned. "You're single, no?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to date them." Jongho said. "I'm out of their league."

"Oh my God. You’re ridiculous.” Mingi responded.

—————-

The group ended up talking for much longer than anticipated, but Seonghwa had a good time. He was going to go outside to grab something from his car when Hongjoong stood up.

“I‘ll go with him.” Hongjoong said, mostly directed at Yunho, who was watching Seonghwa get up.

“Are you sure?” Yunho asked.

“Definitely. If it’s okay with Seonghwa, of course.” Hongjoong nodded in assurance at Yunho.

“No problem.”

Seonghwa and Hongjoong descended the stairs and exited out of the front door.

“Sorry, it’s colder than I expected in there.” Seonghwa wrapped his arms around himself.

“I could have offered you my jacket. I wasn’t even thinking about it.” Hongjoong pocketed his hands in his bomber jacket.

“It’s okay.” Seonghwa unlocked his car and opened the back door before bending down and sifting through his back seat. “I wouldn’t want you to be cold.”

“It’s all good.” Hongjoong responded, watching as Seonghwa pulled out a long padded coat and put it on.

“Alright.” Seonghwa closed the door of his car. “Thank you for coming, by the way.”

“Absolutely. I would be pissed if someone gave you a hard time again. I do appreciate you coming tonight, though.” Hongjoong and Seonghwa leaned against Seonghwa’s car as they spoke.

“I’m glad I did. You guys are all really nice. I know I’m not really contributing, but I’m trying.” Seonghwa said. He looked really nice with the wind blowing in his hair and the street lights illuminating him.

“My friends can be a lot, so don’t take anything too much to heart.” Hongjoong brushed his hair from his face.

“So can, well, mostly Jongho. Yunho is really protective of me, although I’m older than him.” Seonghwa said. “Embarrassing, right?”

Hongjoong shook his head. “I don’t think so. He’s a good friend to you and that’s really important.”

”True. Who knows where I would be if it wasn’t for him, in all honestly. For me, my parents were never around, so I didn’t have anyone there for me when people started giving me a hard time. So, I guess that made me rely on Yunho a lot.” Seonghwa said. “Sorry, I’m saying too much.”

”No, no, you’re fine.” Hongjoong pat Seonghwa’s bicep to comfort him. “I’d only vaguely known about you, since I didn’t go to school the same place as you. I mean, you probably didn’t even know my friend’s names, but they knew about you. It’s just stupid that you were known for non-positive reasons. Maybe you can tell me more about it sometime, but I don’t want to talk about anything negative tonight. I invited you out, so you could have a good time.”

“You just met me, yet you’re nicer to me than people I went to school with for years.” Seonghwa laughed, although it was more of a bitter laugh than anything.

“If people got to know you, they would treat you the same way I’m treating you.” Hongjoong said. “Now, you’re probably even colder out here, so let’s go in.”

Hongjoong led Seonghwa back in and they narrowly missed Yoora, but they got stuck behind an extremely slow group of teens who obviously got in with fake IDs.

“Seonghwa! I’ve been waiting for you.” Yoora was visibly intoxicated. “How did the interview go?”

Hongjoong was annoyed for Seonghwa. He knew Seonghwa wasn’t interested in Yoora and he was pretty sure he wasn’t interested in girls at all, but he never specifically stated his sexuality.

“We just needed to take a step outside. It’s about to continue.” Hongjoong spoke for Seonghwa.

“Don’t you think it’s been long enough? My friends and I have been waiting for so long. They’re going to drive us to my apartment.” Yoora waved around a wine glass that was nearly empty.

“Don’t shoot the messenger.” Hongjoong said. “We have to go.”

“I think that’s enough.” Yoora latched onto Seonghwa. “Tell your boss that the interview needed to end early. If you see the rest of Aurora on the way back, tell them some cute girls are waiting for them near the bar.”

“You know what?” Hongjoong put his index finger and his thumb to his chin and pretended to think. “I’m not going to do that. At all, actually.” 

“Excuse me?” Yoora looked appalled at Hongjoong’s words.

“I’m pretty sure I was clear. Look, do you know how many girls and guys approach someone like Seonghwa? You really think that I care that you’re throwing yourself at him and you should compromise his evening, so he can go home with you? No, I really don’t care.” Hongjoong rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why he was so annoyed.

“You’re just upset because I’m not hitting on you.” Yoora responded. “Get lost.”

“Why don’t you take your own advice? Notice how we were having a fine time until you interjected?” Hongjoong crossed his arms.

“Whatever.” Yoora said. “He’s hot and I like him. He’s staying with me.”

“We all know he’s hot, you’re literally stating the obvious. And, besides, you’re that shallow that you only think about his looks? What about who he is, hmm? Tell me one thing about him, since you have been a fan for so long.” Hongjoong quirked a brow.

“That he’s really sexy when he plays the bass.” Yoora said matter-of-factory.

“He plays the guitar.” Hongjoong corrected her. “See you.”

Before Yoora could answer, Hongjoong took Seonghwa’s hand and led him back to the stairs.

Seonghwa laughed to himself and Hongjoong stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He let go of Seonghwa’s hand and grinned.

“What?” Hongjoong questioned.

“Thanks.” Seonghwa said. “Thanks for lying to help me.”

“What did I lie about?” Hongjoong tilted his head in curiosity. “Being an interviewer? I can interview you if you want when we get back upstairs.”

“No, you complimented me a lot.” Seonghwa responded.

“I wasn’t lying.” Hongjoong shook his head. “I hope it’s not weird to say, but literally all of our friends think you’re ridiculously good looking, myself included.”

Seonghwa blushed lightly. “You guys are just saying that.” He said. “I mean, it’s hard to accept compliments from people who are really good looking, so I don’t know if I’ll believe you.” Seonghwa paused. “Or them.”

Hongjoong could only smirk and shake his head at Seonghwa. He was clueless.

“Welcome back.” San said when Seonghwa and Hongjoong approached.

“Thanks.” Seonghwa lightly pat San on the head when he walked past him. To Hongjoong’s surprise, Seonghwa sat down and tapped the spot next to him, indicating that Hongjoong could sit next to him.

“You guys just missed it.” Mingi looked in Seonghwa and Hongjoong’s direction. “San just kicked a beer bottle that Yunho was holding like, five feet in the air.”

“I’ve done taekwondo since I was a kid. It’s not a big deal.” San sat back down next to Wooyoung, throwing an arm around the other male’s shoulders.

Hongjoong looked over to where they must have been messing around, because there was a broken beer bottle on the ground. Hongjoong got up to clean it up.

“Wait, I want to try, too.” Jongho got up.

“Do not let him near any glass. Jongho has some weird super strength and glass will go everywhere.” Yunho said. “Just a warning.”

Hongjoong sighed while he picked up the broken beer bottle shards.

“Here’s a can.” Yeosang handed Jongho a beer can and Jongho threw it in the air before kicking it as hard as he could.

Naturally, the can flew and hit Hongjoong directly in the temple. Luckily, the can wasn’t smashed beforehand, or else it would have left Hongjoong with a nasty cut on his face. He did, however, drop the glass on impact and the contents spilled back onto the floor.

Immediately, Mingi, Seonghwa, and Yunho got up to help Hongjoong. Yunho used the bottom of his shirt as a makeshift pocket to put the glass into until he could find a better place to put it.

Mingi looked back over to one of the small tables next to the couch and motioned at San. “Can you hand me those napkins? He’s bleeding.”

“I am so sorry.” Jongho said. “I didn’t think that would happen.”

Seonghwa took some of the napkins San handed him and Mingi and each of them helped get the glass remnants and blood odd of Hongjoong’s palms.

”It’s all good. I already have exacto scars, so what’s the difference?” Hongjoong tried to lighten up the situation.

When the drama subsided, Seonghwa stood up.

“I think that was a sign I need to get them home. Yunho, you’re staying over, right?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yeah, I’ll stay.” Yunho followed suit and stood up.

“Want to stay over, too, San? It’s pretty late.” Seonghwa looked at San.

“It’s all good. I walked here, so it’s fine.” San said.

“Do not let this man walk home alone.” Wooyoung pat San on the knee. “He’ll drown in a puddle at this state.”

”Hey, I can drink on the job. My tolerance is through the roof.” San grinned. “You just want an excuse to take me home, I know it.”

”Caught me.” Wooyoung played along.

“I can take you back when I go home in the morning.” Yunho suggested. “It’s not a problem.”

“Well, if you insist.” San smirked. “Sure, thanks, guys.”

“Alright.” Hongjoong said. “Get home safely, you guys. Thanks for your help.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Seonghwa questioned.

“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve been through worse.” Hongjoong nodded in reassurance.

The group said goodnight to each other and Aurora preemptively asked if they wanted to come to their open mic night on Wednesday, which the group readily agreed to.

“No drinking, though.” Yeosang said. “We don’t need anymore injuries.”

“It was an accident.” Jongho glared at Yeosang. “Don’t be rude, I’m a child.”

“You are twenty. You are far from being a child.” Yunho corrected Jongho. “But you’re a baby to us, so I guess I should let it slide.”

Jongho rolled his eyes.

“Goodnight.” Hongjoong said to Seonghwa while the rest of the group chatted idly. “Thanks again for coming. Watch out when you leave, or you might get captured by that girl again.”

”I hope not.” Seonghwa laughed. “Goodnight.”

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I should have said this earlier but ignore any time stamps. I apologize for any weird formatting, it changed when pasting it. Thanks!


	6. Unease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes to watch Aurora perform and some people can't let the past go, but this time Seonghwa has more than his bandmates to back him up.

Hongjoong and Wooyoung had to pick up one of their coworker’s shifts that was sick, so they didn’t have much time after classes to chat with their friends lately. They heard about Seonghwa and the rest of Aurora from Mingi, but that was it.

Luckily, Aurora changed the day they would play at Wings to Thursday and their co-worker, Hyunjin, was luckily back by then.

Hongjoong scrolled through his Instagram feed while he waited for Wooyoung to finish making an iced coffee to go and smiled when he saw a new picture Seonghwa posted. Seonghwa looked really happy and it was refreshing to see that he could be happy when presenting himself to his fans. As far as he knew, the people who treated him the worst didn’t actively look for his social media, so they didn’t know where Aurora performed.

At least that didn’t seem to matter to Seonghwa and Aurora’s fans. The photos of Seonghwa smiling always did well.

“Okay.” Wooyoung held out a coffee to Hongjoong. “Let’s head back. We’re having dinner at the house with San before we go, since he’s off today.”

“Thanks for the coffee.” Hongjoong stood up. “And nice, I like how we have been so busy, but you found time to message with San.” He grinned.

“He’s fun to talk to. We like to push each other’s buttons and banter.” Wooyoung picked up his bag from the back of the chair Hongjoong was sitting in.

“I already know you have the hots for him. You made that clear.” Hongjoong smirked and walked to the door with Wooyoung.

“We’re friends, okay?” Wooyoung playfully shoved Hongjoong. “Also, you have no place to talk. I see the way you look at Seonghwa.”

Hongjoong’s eyes shot to Wooyoung. “What?” He said. “I look at him no different than I look at any of our friends.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “Okay.”

By the time they got to the house and opened the door, San was already there talking to Yeosang.

“Hey!” San looked over when he heard the two enter the house and got up to hug Wooyoung. “Sorry, I got here earlier than I thought but I brought food, so hopefully I’m forgiven.”

“Why would we be mad you were here early?” Wooyoung hugged San back. “I’m able to eat earlier now.”

“Wow, so you only like me for my ability to feed you?” San feigned offense.

“Basically.” Wooyoung pat San on the chest before walking away. “Where is Mingi?

“He’s getting ready.” Yeosang pulled down the sleeves of his hoodie. “I guess he wants to have the whole band aesthetic thing going on.”

“Of course he does.” Wooyoung said.

“So, how long have you known Aurora?” Hongjoong asked San.

“They have been performing at Wings for a couple of years, I think.” San responded. “I think two years, I want to say.” He thought for a moment. “Yeah, because they did as soon as they started their YouTube channel.”

”That’s cool.” Yeosang stood up and went to the refrigerator. “Did you know about the shit that people said about Seonghwa?”

”Nah.” San shook his head. “I didn’t go to the same school and I just thought he was the quiet musician type. Yunho was the first one in Aurora to talk to me and then it was their ex-drummer. Jongho came next and, eventually, Seonghwa. Don’t laugh at me but I crushed on him for, like, a week. So, needless to say, I never thought he was weird or anything like that.”

“And there was never been any issues at the bar?” Wooyoung took out enough pairs of chopsticks for the group.

“I’ve kicked a couple of people out and we have a blacklist. It’s just just for them, of course. It’s for sleazy guys that mess with the girls that come in to have fun with their friends, usually.”

”Okay, does this look stupid?” Mingi came down the stairs, buttoning the third button on his shirt from the top.

”It’s literally a black dress shirt and jeans that are...way too tight.” Yeosang made a face.

“It looks great.” Hongjoong went over to Mingi and fixed his collar. “Are you glad you joined Aurora?”

“Definitely.” Mingi said. “The guys are really fucking funny.”

”Here’s an idea.” Yeosang opened a can of soda. “Next time we hang out with them, let’s not cause chaos and actually try to get them to tell us about themselves. I know way too much about you guys, anyway. If I hear the story about Wooyoung’s botched nose piercing one more time, I’m out.”

“Botched nose piercing?” San questioned. “What happened?”

“My point exactly.” Yeosang headed out from the kitchen.

“Wooyoung had the grand idea to pierce his nose himself with one of those ear piercing kits that are actually super bad for your cartilage. Needless to say, it got stuck in his nose and none of us could get it out and he refused to go to the hospital, so he waited until Monday to go to the science department and have one of the professors get it off of his nose. Sure, it looks fine now, but was it worth it?” Hongjoong looked over at Wooyoung.

“Um, yes, it was. It’s cute.” Wooyoung grinned.

“But...you could have, oh, I don’t know, gone to a piercer?” Mingi shrugged.

“What’s the fun in that?”

———

“So, after we play I’ll Remember, we have a new song we are going to play.” Jongho reached for the microphone in the stand.

The reception to their songs was the best it had ever been, now that Aurora had actual fans coming to see them.

“I love this song!”

”Oh no.” San mumbled from the place where he was leaning against the bar. “Want to watch an actual shit show?” He turned to Wooyoung.

“Should I be scared?" Wooyoung responded.

“Yes.” San nodded.

“Did everyone give a warm welcome to my band mates?” The bar owner, Jinyoung, came on stage. “I’m just kidding, but I should join!”

A tight lipped smile formed on Seonghwa’s face as he gripped the neck of his guitar. Not again.

Jinyoung pat Seonghwa harshly on the shoulder before throwing an arm around Yunho’s waist. He was fashioning an outfit that made Hongjoong wish he could have selective vision. Neon green PVC pants over a pair of skin-tight shorts and a black turtleneck adorned Jinyoung’s body.

“God, this is the worst thing I have ever seen, and I’ve seen the inside of a frat house.” Yeosang could only shake his head and pull his hood over as much of his eyes as he could.

Seonghwa and Jongho exchanged a glance, unsure of what to do. Mingi eyed Hongjoong in the crowd.

“Oh. Um,” Yunho fumbled with the guitar pick, “I guess this is a thing that’s happening.” He said before playing the first few strings of their song.

Seonghwa was going to sing into the microphone, as he was the first one to sing in the song, but Jinyoung started singing before he could even attempt to. Jongho and Yunho didn’t even bother when their parts came up.

Hongjoong buried his face in his hands.

“Mingi looks so confused.” Hongjoong said. “This is a crime.”

“He’s done this once or twice before and we always hoped it would never happen again. “ San informed the group. “Watch Aurora’s expressions, though. It’s really funny to watch them die a little inside.”

Jinyoung ended the performance with wiping the sweat on his brow and handing the slightly damp microphone to Yunho.

"Is it just because I'm new, or is that an actual thing that happens often?" Mingi said into the microphone in front of the drum set, although he was talking to Aurora.

"It's happened before." Jongho said in an annoyed tone. "I mean, I guess the people who came here for us are actually here for Mr. Park, isn't that right?"

"Yeah, I thought people came to hear you sing your own songs." Mingi shrugged. The crowd laughed at their banter and Jinyoung was oblivious.

"I guess we can play our new song now." Yunho cleared his throat. "After I get some hand sanitizer. Want to introduce the song, Seonghwa?"

"Sure." Seonghwa took hold of his microphone. "This is a song called Thunder. Well, you'll hear the lyrics, but it's pretty personal. When it's storming and the skies are dark, well, it reminds me of how whatever surrounds you can make you feel like you're in the darkness. No matter what, there's going to be that storm and there's nothing you can do, you can't make it go away until the skies clear. In our lives, we may have times where it feels like the world is against us and there's a constant storm around us that we can't escape. Even though it's there, having even just one person to make you feel like the skies will clear is worth it."

Hongjoong and Wooyoung looked at each other. They felt badly that people had such a skewed image of Seonghwa and, at one point, so did they.

"So, basically, fuck you if you're like the thunder and fuck up people's lives because you relish the feeling you get when you bring someone else down. It's immature and your impact can be hurtful and, sometimes, fatal. I'll be the first one to say that I, for one, have followed the crowd and thought poorly of someone because everyone else did. It was shitty and I learned how amazing that person is. If you want to continue to be blind to the facts and act like a storm, well, I hope you get struck by lightning." Mingi said. "I mean, that's just my perspective on the song. What does little old me know, anyway?"

"I fucking love our new drummer." Jongho said to the group and, due to the microphones, the crowd.

The crowd exploded in laughter. 

"Why did you want to go here anyway? I come back into town and the place you take me is to a bar where that fucking freak we went to school with is performing?"

Hongjoong overheard the conversation and looked over at a male he didn't recognize.

"Dude, I swear, I didn't know he was going to be here." The male next to him said. "You know, rumor has it that the reason he was so weird growing up was because his mom died when he was in high school. I guess he was going to live in America with his dad and his new wife, but his dad didn't want him."

"Are you serious?" The first male laughed. "Come on, my grandmother died when I was like, six, and I don't remember being upset about it. Who did he live with?"

"Who knows." The second male shrugged. "I guess with that tall kid in the band for a few weeks but, after that, don't know and don't care. That guy seems pretty decent, so it sucks he got himself involved with Seonghwa."

Hongjoong looked over at his friends, but it seemed that Wooyoung was too preoccupied talking with San and Yeosang was sitting at the bar begrudgingly drinking a virgin daquiri. Whatever, Hongjoong could tell these guys off on his own.

"Are you two going to shut your mouths and listen to the music, or not?" Hongjoong questioned. "Believe it or not, some of us actually came to see Aurora perform."

"Aurora?" The first male scoffed. "God, what a gay name. He probably chose that, too."

The two chuckled.

Hongjoong couldn't avoid rolling his eyes. "Just be quiet and listen to them. They'll prove you wrong."

"I don't think so." The second guy responded. "The next song sounds fucking stupid anyway."

"You're part of the problem." Hongjoong said. "Did you not listen to what they said? You're literally the reason why the song exists. Do you get off on treating people like shit, or what?"

"Excuse me?" The first male uncrossed his arms and stood in front of Hongjoong. Although the male was taller, Hongjoong wasn't intimidated.

"You heard me." Hongjoong said.

One of the men shoved Hongjoong back, catching the attention of the patrons.

"Aww, cute. You're so scary. I'm horrified by you." Hongjoong smirked.

The second male grabbed harshly at Hongjoong's arm and pulled him over. "Want to take this outside?"

Jongho must have noticed and stopped changing the strap of his bass. He made eye contact with Hongjoong and Hongjoong waved his hand to indicate it was okay. He didn't want to involve anyone.

The rest of Aurora looked up.

"Want to take this outside?" The males asked.

"Yeah, let's go. You can keep your pride in tact if we take it outside." Hongjoong walked (read: was pulled) towards the door and outside.

The taller of the males got in a weak punch that hurt more because of the ring on his finger than the impact itself in before Hongjoong made it clear he was going to come out victorious. He did his best to get them to the ground quickly, so he could go back in and tell San to kick them out properly.

Hongjoong entered the bar again and walked towards San.

"Hey," Hongjoong raised his voice to be heard over the music, "There are two guys on the ground outside. Can you go tell them to fuck off and never come back?" He asked.

"Gladly." San set down his drink. "What happened to your cheek?"

Hongjoong felt his cheek. There was most likely just a small scratch from the ring, so he ignored it.

"Just...get those guys to leave, please." Hongjoong said.

San got the message and excused himself.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Yeosang finally paid attention to the situation.

"There were some assholes talking shit, so I took care of it." Hongjoong responded.

Wooyoung handed him a napkin, slightly damp from the condensation of the cup that was on it. "You should have mentioned it to us, and we could have helped you."

Hongjoong shrugged. "It wasn't an problem."

"Apparently it was because Seonghwa hasn't taken his eyes off of you ever since you went out the door." Wooyoung leaned against the bar.

Hongjoong glanced over to the stage and made eye contact with Seonghwa before the musician quickly looked away.

Before Hongjoong explained, he thanked San who came back and gave him a thumbs-up.

"I didn't realize you meant literally on the ground." San said.

"Yeah, I got in a few good hits." Hongjoong grinned. "They deserved it."

Wooyoung hit his arm. "Explain."

"Jeez, okay." Hongjoong frowned. "I guess they're visiting town and didn't realize Aurora was performing, or something stupid like that. They said some gross things about Seonghwa and, well, I don't know if it's true, but laughed about his mom's death."

"What the fuck?" Yeosang responded. "I can be an asshole sometimes, but that's way too much."

"I know. There's more to it, but it's not my place to talk about it. It was really rude." Hongjoong relaxed his shoulders.

"Now, I think you didn't hit them hard enough." San responded. "Thanks for defending him."

"Of course, he's our friend, isn't he?" Hongjoong looked back at the stage to finally enjoy the song.

Luckily, there wasn't an issue for the rest of the show. In fact, Aurora took a long time to get off of the stage because a lot of their fans wanted to meet them.

"Want to get some boba?" Wooyoung suggested. "I feel like you guys will be bombarded if we stay here tonight."

"That's a good idea." Yunho switched the hand he was carrying his guitar case in. Luckily, the drum set at the bar could stay there and they didn't have to lug it around everywhere. Seonghwa and Jongho had one at their place.

"I'm not done for another hour and a half, so you guys go ahead." San put ice into a shaker and opened up a new bottle of vodka.

"Oh, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry." Wooyoung frowned.

"Don't be." San reassured Wooyoung. "I can come over later, if you want. We can play video games or something." He suggested.

"Good idea. I'll let you know when we are back. Don't bail on me now." Wooyoung winked. "See you."

The rest of the group said goodbye to San and went to a boba shop that wasn't too far, so they didn't have to drive out of the way.

Hongjoong saved the table, while the rest of the group got their boba. When they were done, he would go on ahead. Or so he thought.

A honeydew boba tea was placed on the table in front of him. Hongjoong looked up to see Seonghwa smiling lightly at him.

"Hey." Seonghwa said. "Are you okay? I never got to ask."

"I'm fine, don't worry." Hongjoong responded. "Thank you, by the way. You didn't have to."

"I wanted to." Seonghwa said. "If you prefer taro, you can have mine. I didn't know what you liked."

"No, this one is my favorite, actually." Hongjoong graciously took the cup into his hands. "I appreciate it."

Seonghwa nodded and took a drink of his tea.

After some silence, Seonghwa spoke up. "Those guys," He started, "Did you know them?"

"No." Hongjoong shook his head. "I've never met them."

"They looked familiar." Seonghwa added. "I went to school with them, I'm pretty sure." He said. "You didn't get that because of me...right?"

"Oh, this?" Hongjoong pointed at his cheek with his index finger. "This is my own stupidity of not acting quickly enough. Trust me, those guys got it worse than I did."

"Okay." Seonghwa kept his lips around the straw, biting on the top of the plastic in thought. "I was just hoping you didn't get hurt because of me."

The rest of the group began to come back to the table with their orders.

"You didn't tell me to argue with them, did you?" Hongjoong questioned, although it was more of a statement. "So don't blame yourself."

Seonghwa could tell Hongjoong was avoiding being completely honest about what happened, but he didn't want to press.

Mingi, Yunho, and Jongho saw Hongjoong go outside with the two guys, but they didn't know the full story. It seemed to be that Yeosang and Wooyoung mentioned something, so they didn't bring it up. The last thing anyone wanted to do was ruin a good night by bringing up unpleasant things.

"You new song was really good, by the way." Wooyoung said.

"Thank you." Jongho responded. "All of us are on board with singing about real-world issues and not songs all about romance. Those are way overdone and exhausting. How many times can you sing about loving someone?"

"For real." Yunho had already downed half of his drink. "They are catchy, though. If sung by the right people, that is."

"True." Yeosang agreed. "Don't write any love songs, though. I can judge you guys if you do because you're my friends."

"We aren't your friends. You're just some groupies." Jongho joked, winking at Yeosang.

"You make me sick." Yeosang flipped him off. "No rights for you."

"Why don't I deserve rights?" Jongho glared at Yeosang.

"If all men lose their rights, as they should, you especially don't deserve them because you're annoying." Yeosang responded.

"You guys bicker like an old couple." Wooyoung tore a napkin in half as he spoke.

"Gross." Mingi responded.

"I can't believe this semester is almost over." Yunho said, hoping to change the subject.

"Right?" Hongjoong responded. "It's so weird. One more semester until I graduate, too."

"Same here." Seonghwa said. "Do you plan to stay around here once you graduate?"

"I do. I don't imagine myself going anywhere. For now, at least. I mean, unless my performing arts degree gets me a trainee position at an entertainment company and I move to Seoul." Hongjoong joked. "You?"

"Yeah, because of the band. If things go well, we can make it a full-time thing. Or, if they choose to go down a different route, that's fine too." Seonghwa responded.

"I don't know if it's selfish or not, but I'm glad you guys are staying around here." Wooyoung said. "I feel like this is a good group."

"Don't get all sentimental on us." Jongho grinned. "I'm kidding. I agree with you."

"Same." Yunho nodded in agreement. "Kind of crazy how we all hit it off really well."

"Well, do you guys have any plans for the break?" Yeosang asked.

"I'm still debating what to do." Mingi responded. "Are any of you seeing family?"

"God no." Jongho groaned. "I'm not about spending time with my dad who remarried a woman that's like, three years older than me. It's weird."

"Um, gross." Wooyoung said. "I don't think I am. Well, my family is taking a trip to Japan for Christmas and invited me, but I lied and said I'm busy with school preparations for next semester."

"I might. My parents live just outside of the city." Yunho bit the inside of his cheek as he thought. "But, who knows?"

"I feel the same." Yeosang propped his chin up on his palm. "My sister is apparently coming home, so I feel like I'm obligated to see her."

"You don't want to see your sister?" Hongjoong asked. "Isn't she nice?"

"Eh." Yeosang said. "She's not as much of an issue as her kids are. They're five-year-old twin demons who destroyed my Pokemon card collection that I kept at my parent's house. I could have sold those things for big money, or kept it, but no. They had to get their nasty sticky kid hands all over it and cry when they couldn't keep them. I'm pretty sure my holographic Charizard is completely compromised."

"Ouch." Yunho looked like he felt for Yeosang. "That sucks."

"What about you, Hongjoong?" Mingi asked his friend.

"And hear my family yell at each other for a week straight? No thanks." Hongjoong said. "I mean, I don't know. It's annoying because someone always says something that offends someone and then everyone gets angry. That's what I get for having a huge family of super loud people. And I wonder why I have anxiety."

"That sounds like a nightmare." Mingi sympathized with the older.

"Are you going home for the holidays, Seonghwa?" Mingi asked. Hongjoong forgot that Mingi was probably the only one that had no idea about the situation, since he briefly mentioned it to Yeosang, Wooyoung, and San and Jongho and Yunho probably already knew. "Do your parents live around here?"

"No, I'm staying at the apartment." Seonghwa responded. "I usually have a horror movie marathon and order food. It's fun."

"Any time I have asked him if he wants to come home with me, he refuses." Yunho said. "I still offer, though."

"Oh, is it that you don't want to go?" Mingi questioned. "I get that, too."

"Uh," Seonghwa hesitated, "Yeah. I think my father lives in the US, and I would rather not go."

"That is a long flight." Mingi said. "And probably lots of layovers, I imagine. During the holidays, at least. What about your mom?"

The rest of the group, minus Yunho, Jongho, and Hongjoong, were actually curious to what he had to say because the situation wasn't clear to them, either.

"She passed away, so..." Seonghwa trailed off.

"Oh, did you guys see that hotpot place that's opening up around here? Maybe, if we stay around here for the holidays, we can go together. Or, we can try to go before everyone else heads out. What do you think?" Jongho chimed in and saved the day.

Hongjoong watched Yunho pat Seonghwa's thigh in a comforting manner from where he was sitting next to him. Seonghwa placed his hand on top of Yunho's and smiled at him, indicating he was fine.

Hongjoong wasn't convinced.

...


	7. Apprehension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hongjoong finds out a little bit about Seonghwa's past and the group goes to watch Aurora perform. Instead of Seonghwa, Hongjoong is approached by someont potentially interested in him.

Hongjoong hated closing on his own, but he didn’t have a choice. Wooyoung had a well deserved night off and his boss went on a trip. Hongjoong was honored to earn such trust from his boss, so he accepted. He had been working at the cafe for three years and had a pretty decent relationship with the boss and his partner, to the point where they had had dinner together on several occasions, so he couldn’t disappoint.

Hongjoong cleaned the coffee grounds out of the machines as one of the last things he did. It was his least favorite part. At least he had already put the chairs up, his second least favorite thing to do.

As he was turned around, taking the grounds out of the third machine, he heard the front door open.

“Shit.” Hongjoong muttered. He forgot to close the door.

“I’m really sorry,” Hongjoong tried to quickly put the grounds in the trash and wipe away the debris from his hands, “But we’re closed.”

Hongjoong heard quiet footsteps get closer to the counter, so he sighed and wiped the rest of the grounds off on his apron.

“Look,” Hongjoong turned around,”Oh.”

Seonghwa stood at the counter, hands in his pockets.

“Hey.” Seonghwa said. “Is it okay that I’m here?”

”Yeah.” Hongjoong responded. “Yes.” He said again and nodded to reassure Seonghwa.

”Thanks.” Seonghwa offered Hongjoong a small smile. “I asked Wooyoung where you guys worked.”

“Did you need something? I hope you didn’t go out of the way to come here.” Hongjoong finished what he was doing and wiped his hands with a rag.

“It’s been hard for everyone to get together because of finals coming up.” Seonghwa said. “I know the guys asked again if everyone had decided what they’re doing.”

Hongjoong hummed. “Did any of their plans change?”

”Well, at practice, Mingi told me that Wooyoung’s considering staying because San’s family all lives in Seoul and he isn’t going home.” Seonghwa said.

Hongjoong extended his hand to usher Seonghwa to one of the tables. He took down one of the chairs and Seonghwa quickly helped him to take down the other.

“That’s nice of him.” Hongjoong responded. “Wooyoung didn’t mention it to me. But, I guess it makes sense, I’ve been working a lot and studying. Our schedules haven’t really aligned.”

“Same with Jongho, even though I also live with him.” Seonghwa chuckled. “Your cheek is looking better, by the way.”

Hongjoong subconsciously touched his cheek. The injury was still prominent, but at least it was beginning to heal.

“It really wasn’t bad.” Hongjoong put his hand back on the table. 

“Yeosang mentioned something about that night and then shut up.” Seonghwa fiddled with his thumbs. “What did those guys say to you?”

Hongjoong sighed and tested Seonghwa’s expression before saying anything.

“I...” Hongjoong paused. “I don’t want to say anything.”

Seonghwa sighed. “It was about me, wasn’t it?” He quietly responded. “You can be honest, I trust you to be.”

“Alright.” Hongjoong said. “Those guys mentioned they went to school with you and said some distasteful things. Then, they said you were quiet because your mom died and your dad didn’t want you.” Hongjoong looked up at Seonghwa and could tell the other male was hurt by what he heard. “They said you lived with Yunho for a little bit because of the situation, but they didn’t know where you went after. I didn’t want to hear anything after that. I told them to shut up and then got a little more bold. I didn’t want them to ruin the song, so we took it outside. I swear, they didn’t really get me. It was just one of the guy’s rings that did anything.”

“Why?” Seonghwa asked. “Why would you risk getting hurt for that? You and your friends have been the only ones besides Yunho, Jongho, and San to even consider speaking up for me, let alone get hurt.”

“No one’s going to talk to you like that if I have any say in it.” Hongjoong assured Seonghwa. “Sure, I’m not Yunho or Mingi’s height, but my attitude makes up for it. When someone pisses me off like that, I’m going to make sure they know.”

“Thank you.” Seonghwa said. “I want to apologize again, but I know you don’t want to hear that, so, thank you.”

“I know you think you’re bothering people by going over to their homes for the holidays, which you’re not, but you’re welcome to come to mine whenever you want. I’m not to keen on going over for the holidays either, but there’s not much I can do.” Hongjoong stood up momentarily to remove his apron.

“It’s just difficult. My relationship with my parents was always strained, but it got worse when my mom got sick. She just kind of checked out, and my father retaliated by finding another woman. When my mom died, my dad was already planning on moving with his now wife. I did stay with Yunho for a little bit, and then I kind of moved around staying place to place. A friend of my mom’s for a little, a teacher I had as a kid, things like that.” Seonghwa said. “And I felt like a burden the whole time, so that’s why I prefer to stay by myself.”

”Seonghwa, you’re one of the nicest and most caring people I have ever met. Don’t think it goes unnoticed. I mean, why do you think Aurora has so many adoring fans?” Hongjoong folded his apron in his lap. 

“If you keep hyping me up, I might start to get a huge ego.” Seonghwa joked.

“Good. You need one.” Hongjoong grinned. “For real.”

Seonghwa’s smile spoke for him. It also didn’t help that it made him look even prettier than usual.

“I won’t keep you.” Seonghwa began to stand up. “I just wanted to talk with you. Sorry for barging in like that.”

”Barging in?” Hongjoong scoffed. “Sure, you’re such an inconvenience.”

”You’re heading out, too? I can help you finish cleaning.” Seonghwa said and picked up the chair he was sitting in to place is back where Hongjoong had originally put it up.

“I got everything, don’t worry.” Hongjoong put his chair up and went to the back to quickly get his bag. “I’m ready to go, too. Did you want to get a drink somewhere or something?”

”Oh, it’s okay. Maybe another time. I probably need to get back.” Seonghwa said.

Hongjoong nodded and went to the door to open it for Seonghwa. He followed out after.

The two stood in front of each other, Hongjoong unsure of how to say goodbye, when Seonghwa enveloped him into a hug. Hongjoong was confused, but not opposed to it. He wrapped one arm around the older and used the other to rub his back.

‘Thank you again.” Seonghwa said before pulling away. “See you around.”

“Yeah.” Hongjoong smiled. “You too.”

…...

The next day, the group went to see Aurora, since one of the other employees was working at the cafe that night and they were all free. Aurora was almost done with their set and the environment felt peaceful. The crowd was respectful and seemed to really be enjoying the music. To top it all off, no sight of Yoora or anyone else that ever gave them a hard time.

“Dude, I have to say it, Wooyoung and San are pretty cute.” Yeosang said. “If you tell them I said that, I will deny it and then shave off your eyebrows as you sleep.”

Hongjoong looked behind him at San and Wooyoung. They were really affectionate with each other, but not in a gross way. Often times, they would just be holding hands on the counter while talking, or San would come and hug Wooyoung after he dropped off a drink order.

“I know.” Hongjoong agreed. “They’re adorable.”

Yeosang nodded. “Hey, did you decide what you’re going to do for the break? I know we all keep asking, but maybe I’m trying to hear what my friends are doing before I make a choice.”

“I thought about it again. I messaged my family group chat this morning and, long story short, I’m learning towards no. Maybe it’s because I’m the oldest nephew, or the oldest cousin, but they expect too much from me. Also, none of them are happy about me being a performing arts major. “ Hongjoong responded. “You’re thinking about ditching your sister?”

“I”m trying to think of a compromise and maybe I’ll make a day visit and then come back here.” Yeosang sighed. “There’s also another reason why I asked.”

“And that reason is?” Hongjoong quirked a brow.

“I still feel pretty badly that Seonghwa doesn’t have anyone for the holidays. I know he said he likes it that way, but I figured he should have at least one holiday where he can get gifts and it will be about him.Maybe we could go to the movies, or all stay over at the house together.”

”Wow, Yeosang. That’s the most wholesome thing you have ever thought of in your whole life.” Hongjoong grinned.

“Hey, one good thing a year, remember?” Yeosang smirked. “It gets me out of seeing my family for a long time, so I’m not being completely selfless.”

”I’m all for it. Should we keep it a surprise?” Hongjoong suggested.

“Good idea. If not everyone can make it, that’s fine, but at least we will be there. The most important people, of course.” Yeosang pretended to flip his hair.

“Oh, but of course.” Hongjoong responded. “We will talk with the rest of the guys later.” 

“Is this seat taken?” Hongjoong heard from behind him while he was facing Yeosang. Hongjoong looked behind him to see a male he didn’t recognize and then back to Yeosang, who simply raised his eyebrows while bringing his beer glass to his lips.

“No, it’s open.” Hongjoong responded.

The male sat down next to him and Hongjoong got a better look. He had silver, nearly white, hair neatly framing his face and the tips of his hair were purple. He had kind eyes and a nice smile. Plus, he was really attractive.

“Thanks.” The male sat down and heaved a sigh. “I didn’t realize how busy this place got, huh?”

”Would you believe me if I told you this is considered normal?” Hongjoong responded.

“Wow.” The male whistled. “That’s great for the owner.” He said. “So, you come here a lot?”

”Friends with the band. You know, we’re their groupies. I’ve been to every show, desperate to get to meet them.” Hongjoong said. “I’m totally joking, by the way. We’re actually friends with them.”

“You’re funny.” The male laughed. “I’m Hyunggu, by the way.”

“Hongjoong. Nice to meet you, Hyunggu.” Hongjoong smiled.

“You as well.” Hyunggu said. “So, are you here with someone?” He leaned closer. “Is that you’re boyfriend?”

“Him?” Hongjoong couldn’t help but laugh. “God, no. He’s a friend.”

“Sorry, I should have come over sooner.” San emerged from behind the bar and looked at Hongjoong. “If you could stop harassing the patrons, I would be very appreciative.”

“If you could piss off, I would also enjoy that as well.” Hongjoong grinned. He always had a good time exchanging friendly and sarcastic banter with San.

“You want to go? I’ll take you out back and beat your ass.” San thumbed in the direction of the back door.

“Oh, he’s not bothering me.” Hyunggu interjected. “I was the one who talked to him.”

“I know.” San sent Hyunggu a dimpled grin. “We’re friends.”

”That’s San.” Hongjoong said. “The other guy over there with the silver-ish looking hair is Wooyoung. Also a friend.”

“Wow, you really do know everyone, huh?” Hyunggu chuckled. “What do you want to drink? I’ll buy you something.”

Hongjoong tried to decline, but Hyunggu insisted. Hongjoong finally gave in.

Eventually, Yeosang and Wooyoung joined the conversation with San chiming in when he was at the bar. However, when San had a break, he sat with Wooyoung and Yeosang and talked to them separately.

“I can’t believe we haven’t met sooner.” Hyunggu set down a nearly empty glass. “I come to Busan pretty often.”

“Maybe our paths just came close to crossing, but never quite there.” Hongjoong took one of the stirring straws out of his glass and mindlessly bent it around. “You said you’re mostly in Seoul, right?”

”Right. I’m in the music industry.” Hyunggu said. “It’s really exhausting, so I try to come back home a lot and see my friends and family.”

”Good job today, guys.” Yunho slung an arm over Mingi’s shoulders. “Despite us all losing our minds over finals, I think it went okay.”

”No kidding. All I could think about while practicing before coming here was how Professor Oh’s recorded lessons will be the death of me. The lip licking and mouth sounds are too much. I don’t know if he’s aware they’re audible, but it’s burned into my memory.” Jongho shuddered.

“I don’t want to think about molecules ever again.” Mingi shook his head. “Torture.”

”Hey, who is Hongjoong talking to?” Jongho asked.

Seonghwa was worried Hongjoong could be getting himself into something potentially dangerous again, so he looked over. No, Hongjoong was just having a conversation with a male around their age.

“He’s handsome.” Yunho looked in their direction. “I wonder if he knows him.”

“Let’s butt in and find out. I love ruining any chance at love for Hongjoong.” Mingi grinned.

Seonghwa almost agreed with Mingi for some reason. He would never want to do anything to mess with Hongjoong, but something was bothering him.

“Hongjoong, my love!” Mingi practically skipped over and hugged Hongjoong from behind.

“Why are you touching me?” Hongjoong didn’t even have to turn to know who was there. Still, he put his hand on Mingi’s forearm to acknowledge him.

“What ever do you mean?” Mingi leaned over Hongjoong’s shoulder to see his expression.

“Ignore him.” Yunho pulled Mingi back.

Hyunggu laughed. “You guys play really well. I’m Hyunggu.”

”Hey.” Jongho greeted him. “Jongho. The idiot whose hair dye has clearly fried his brain is Mingi.”

”I’m Yunho and this is Seonghwa.” Yunho put his hand on Seonghwa’s shoulder.

“Nice to meet you all.” Hyunggu responded.

“Do you guys know each other?” Yunho asked.

Hongjoong and Hyunggu both shook their heads.

“Nah.” Hyunggu said. “I was looking around the bar and, as much as I wanted to sit next to that couple that has been making out on the other side of the bar, I decided to sit next to the cute guy with a free seat neat to him.”

“Huh, weird. I don’t see any cute guy.” Mingi looked around the room. “Oh, you mean Yeosang? You could sit next to him, but you have to get this guy out of the way.”

Yeosang looked over. “I heard my name.” He said.

“Ignore him.” Jongho responded. “He’s dumb.”

“He’s handsome too, but I meant Hongjoong.” Hyunggu laughed.

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong stood up, “You look tired. You should sit.”

“You should sit.” Yunho repeated to Seonghwa. “I know you haven’t been sleeping well, go ahead.”

Seonghwa didn’t argue, he thanked Hongjoong and sat down. Hongjoong leaned against the bar behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Well, these are the friends I told you about.” Hongjoong motioned to everyone. “And those three over there.”

“They seem great.” Hyunggu said. “And super talented.”

“Actually, I think I’m going to head out.” Seonghwa stood up almost as soon as he sat down. “Thanks for your kind words.”

“Wait, I can go back with you if you give me a second.” Jongho held up his index finger. “I just need to grab something.”

“It’s alright.” Seonghwa responded. “Enjoy yourself.”

”I can take you back later.” Yunho said to Jongho. “It’s not a problem.”

“You sure?” Jongho looked up at Yunho, who nodded at him.

Hongjoong was going to say something, but Seonghwa left before he could.

Yunho, clearly not wanting anyone to dwell on it, changed the subject.

“So, do you play any instruments?”

———-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not realize how long this fic is...and I still am going to change/add to the ending. We about about halfway through now!


	8. 180 Degrees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seonghwa's friends prove that family doesn't need to be blood related. All that matters is if they care for you.

It never felt more freeing to have a break. Everyone ended up being able to participate in the surprise for Seonghwa. They planned it to be two days after they conjured the idea, so they chose Sunday. After Sunday, everyone but Seonghwa, Hongjoong, San, Wooyoung, and Jongho were going to go see their families for some time.

Saturday night, Yunho invited everyone who lived with Seonghwa to stay at his apartment. Sure, it was crowded, but it worked. They prepared activities for Sunday, while Hongjoong kept Seonghwa occupied. They all chose random names for the gift exchange and Hongjoong suggested they go shopping on Sunday. Hongjoong got San and Seonghwa got Yeosang. Hongjoong got up early to meet Seonghwa at his apartment.

Hongjoong rubbed his hands together for warmth while he waited for Seonghwa to open the door. When he did, the older was in a plush jacket and his hair was slightly curled.

“Wow, you look really nice.” Hongjoong said without thinking.

“Oh, thanks.” Seonghwa blushed. “You too.”

Hongjoong smiled. “Are you ready to go? I was thinking we go shopping and then grabbing some lunch. What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me.” Seonghwa closed the door behind him. “Want me to drive?”

”No, no.” Hongjoong gently took Seonghw’a forearm. “Today is on me. Let’s go.”

As Hongjoong said, they got their gifts for the exchange and ate before walking around a park and heading back to Hongjoong’s house. Hongjoong had been messaging with the whole group to make sure everything was going according to plan.

While Hongjoong was driving, he could feel Seonghwa looking at him, so he glanced over.

“Are you okay?” Hongjoong asked.

“I wanted to say thank you.” Seonghwa said. “Really. I’m not used to having someone around during the holidays, even if it’s just hanging out. It’s been a lot of fun today.”

Hongjoong smiled to himself. “I’m glad you had a good time today. So did I. You’re pretty good company, you know that?” He grinned.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that.” Seonghwa laughed. “What ever happened with that guy from the bar, by the way?”

“Oh, Hyunggu?” Hongjoong turned on his turning signal. “Not much. We text.”

”He seemed nice.” Seonghwa said. “Even said you were cute.”

Hongjoong refrained from visibly reacting. Seonghwa was being more open to different discussions. He knew Seonghwa wasn’t flirting or anything, but it meant a lot that he paid attention to Hongjoong’s personal life.

“People just say that because I’m short. They don’t actually think I’m cute.” Hongjoong kept his eyes on the road.

“He said it before he even saw you stand up.” Seonghwa responded.

“Then I’ll make sure to get him glasses next time I see him.” Hongjoong parked his car in his driveway. “I figured you could leave your gift for Yeosang in his room. That, or you can put it in mine.”

“Sure.” Seonghwa unbuckled his seatbelt.

Hongjoong opened the door and Seonghwa followed.

“It got so dark.” Seonghwa chuckled. “Also, why does it smell really good in here?”

”Oh, I don’t know.” Hongjoong shrugged and turned on the lights. “Would you mind following me? I just remembered I have something I need to give you.”

Seonghwa nodded and followed Hongjoong. When Hongjoong rounded the corner, Seonghwa was stunned to see their friends in his home. Wooyoung, Yunho, and Yeosang were in the kitchen, while Mingi, Jongho, and San were sitting on the floor of the living room, looking at something on San’s phone.

“Hey, look who is here!” San looked up and pocketed his phone. “Took you a while, you were supposed to get here twenty minutes ago.”

“Sorry.” Hongjoong set his bag on the counter, so he could take off his jacket. “The traffic was kind of intense.”

“Wait...” Seonghwa said. “What’s going on?”

“Well, dinner and a movie, if you’re down.” Jongho smiled. “Do you prefer the theater or watching one at home?”

“Uh,” Seonghwa didn’t know what to say.

”Wait, hold that thought.” San said when he heard a commotion from the kitchen. “I’m guessing they need some help setting up. Hang with Hongjoong and we’ll be back.”

When they walked away, Seonghwa scanned the room quizzically. It was nicely decorated for the holidays and bean bags, blankets, and pillows were strewn about for them to eat and watch movies comfortably.

“What’s happening?” Seonghwa asked Hongjoong.

“Yeosang had the idea to do something all together, so he talked to me about it and, well, this is what we came up with. I know you mentioned you like to watch horror movies, so we thought we would go see one, or watch one here. Oh, and we are going to have a sleepover.” Hongjoong pat Seonghwa on the back. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Really?” Seonghwa frowned. “All of this for me?”

“Yes, and I actually do have something for you.” Hongjoong unzipped his bag he put on the table. “Here.”

Hongjoong handed Seonghwa a gift in light blue wrapping paper.

Seonghwa gingerly took it and examined the present.

“You can open it.” Hongjoong said.

Seonghwa felt embarrassed to open a present in front of someone, but he obliged.

Seonghwa gasped. “How did you know I wanted one?”

“Well, it was luck. I thought you might not like it, but then I saw you eyeing the Polaroid cameras while we were out. “Hongjoong responded.

“Hongjoong...” Seonghwa frowned again and set down the box and looked down at the ground.

“Thank you.” Seonghwa quietly said. He could hear Seonghwa’s voice wavering.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Hongjoong questioned. He watched Seonghwa bring a hand to his eye while he was still looking down, so Hongjoong cupped Seonghwa’s cheeks and lift his head, so they could look at each other.

“It’s stupid, I’m sorry.” Seonghwa looked at Hongjoong. “It means a lot that you guys went out of your way to do this and you spent all day with me and got me a gift.”

”Don’t think that’s the only gift you’re getting.” Hongjoong smiled. “I don’t want you to cry, I want you to be happy.”

Seonghwa put his hand on top of Hongjoong’s, which were still placed on his cheeks.

“I am, I promise. More than you could ever imagine.” Seonghwa assured Hongjoong.

“Good, because you’re getting the full holiday experience if I have any say. A few of us aren’t going home for the holidays, so I hope you won’t get sick of me, sick of us.” Hongjoong responded. 

“Okay, get over here, you guys.” Wooyoung smiled as he brought out food to the table in the living room. The rest of the group brought out items until the table was completely full. Yunho handed everyone a plate and they found a comfortable spot to sit.

“This was a really good idea, Yeosang.” Yunho said, scooping some tteokbokki on his plate.

“Yes, thank you so much.” Seonghwa added. “Thank you to all of you.”

“Hey, I had the idea, but Hongjoong organized it all. Even paid for and helped prepare the food last night.” Yeosang picked up a pair of chopsticks from the table.

Hongjong blushed at the sudden attention towards him and looked away, so no one else could see.

“The cake is from the cafe where Hongjoong and I work. Seokjin makes really good desserts and left everything packaged fresh and San and I simply assembled it.”

“That’s why it looks so good.” San handed a full plate to Wooyoung before making his own plate.

“So,” Jongho said, “Movie theater or we watch here?”

”Well, you guys put a lot of work into all of this, so I say we stay here.” Seonghwa responded.

“Hell yeah.” Mingi grinned. “That means we can do the gift exchange now. Did everyone put the gifts in that box?”

“I put mine and Seonghwa’s in there earlier.” Hongjoong said.

“Sweet. And you wrote the person’s name on it?” Mingi confirmed.

“Of course, even though my top tier wrapping skills will be a dead giveaway.” Hongjoong winked.

Yunho got up and brought the box around while Hongjoong and San cleaned up the table. Wooyoung brought the cake out and some plates.

“Wow,” Jongho whistled, “Now that I get a better look, this cake looks like garbage. It makes sense the two of you decorated it.”

“Yeah, no kidding. I’m not even sure if it’s edible.” Yeosang egged Jongho on, which earned him a high-five from the youngest.

“Then don’t eat any, assholes.” Wooyoung handed San two plates. “You can put these away.”

“You guys are such dicks.” Mingi chuckled. “They worked hard on that, even I won’t give them shit.”

“We’re just messing with them.” Jongho said.

“I know.” Wooyoung put the plates back on the table. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood.”

The cake was cut and everyone got some while picking their present out of the box with their name on it.

“How should we do the order? Youngest to oldest?” Hongjoong suggested.

“Let’s all open them at the same time and then start from Seonghwa and we can go clockwise.” San used his index finger to draw a circle in the air.

Everyone agreed and opened their gifts, but didn’t show anyone, and some neglected to look at the gift until they showed everyone else.

“Okay, Seonghwa, you first.” San dug his fork into the cake.

“Um, alright.” Seonghwa showed the group what he got. “It’s a new strap for my guitar. It must be someone who knew I needed one, so I’ll guess either Jongho or Yunho.”

Yeosang was next, whose gift was from Seonghwa.

“Is this Shattered Memories for the PS2? Are you actually kidding? I didn’t know any of you even knew I collected Silent Hill games.” Yeosang held the game like it was the most important thing in the world. “I’ll guess Wooyoung, because I feel like he’s been in my room the most.” He said. “To play games, nothing weird. Sorry San.”

San showed the group what he got. “Why would you do this?”

The gift was wrapped in a smaller box, and then a smaller box, and so on. When San finally got to the end, he heaved a sigh of relief. “I was wondering why the first box was so big, but this is worth it.” San held a fox plushie to his chest. “I’ll guess Woo, as well, because he’s seen my room and the other plushies I have.”

Wooyoung had waited to even take a peek at what he got until they did their reveals and smiled when he did. “I’ve been eyeing this jacket since last winter. It’s gotta be Hongjoong that got this for me.”

Jongho stared blankly at the inside of the gift box until he pulled out his gift. 

“Really?” Jongho rolled his eyes and showed the group his ‘gift’, which was a Polaroid of Wooyoung. “Wow, thank you, Wooyoung. You know the only thing I could ever want would be a Polaroid of you.” 

Mingi went next and pulled out a ‘Science if Fun’ shirt in an obnoxious neon green color before excitedly showing the group the pair of shoes underneath. He guessed Hongjoong. 

Yunho got a jewelry set he had really wanted, so he guessed that it was probably Seonghwa and maybe Jongho. 

Last was Hongjoong. He pulled out an envelope with two tickets to the fair, as well as some tickets for some of the rides and games. The only person who knew how much Hongjoong loved fairs was Wooyoung, so he guessed him. Maybe there were two tickets because Wooyoung wanted Hongjoong to take him?

“Alright, did anyone guess correctly?” Yeosang finally tore his eyes off of his gift. 

“I got Seonghwa. I wanted to get him something else, but I thought the strap was more practical.” Yunho smiled at his best friend. 

“Hongjoong was right. I got him the tickets.” Wooyoung grinned. 

“Woah, woah, no way.” Jongho interjected. “You’re a liar. You definitely got me the Polaroid of you.”

“I didn’t, though.” Wooyoung crossed his legs. 

“I did.” San said. “It’s a precious gift.”

“It’s actually the worst.” Jongho glared at San. 

“It’s actually not.” San glared back at Jongho. “Just take the gift card on the back then. It’s so you can buy a new amp.”

“Oh, sweet.” Jongho handed the Polaroid to San and pocketed the gift card. “Thanks, dude.”

The rest of the group did their reveals and everyone was extremely grateful. 

“I got you the tickets because I know you love the fair.” Wooyoung said. “And you probably don’t want to go alone.”

“So you want me to take you?” Hongjoong joked.

“No, no.” Wooyoung grinned. “Some of us are staying around here, including San and I, so I could go with him. I figured you could go with that cute guy from the bar. He seemed to like you.”

“Or you can take me on a date.” Yeosang winked at Hongjoong. “Kidding.”

“He would take me over you.” Jongho crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah, right. Besides, you’re stuck with me for the holidays.” Yeosang said before looking at the group. “Jongho and I are going to go on a small road trip to check out this retro video game store and then have a really shitty holiday dinner at whatever two star diner we can find that will definitely give us food poisoning. Want to tag along?” 

“No.” Hongjoong responded. 

“Absolutely not.” San added. 

“Losers.” Jongho laughed. “We’re hyped.” 

“But, really, you can take that guy if you want.” Wooyoung said. “Or Seonghwa.”

“Do you want to go with me?” Hongjoong turned to Seonghwa.

“You don’t want to take that guy?” Seonghwa questioned. 

“No, I want to take you. Have you ever been?” Hongjoong held the tickets in his hand. 

“I haven’t.” Seonghwa shook his head.

“Then we’re going for sure.” Hongjoong put the tickets back into the envelope. “It’s settled. Now, let’s argue for an hour about the movie we watch.”

The rest of the night with all of Seonghwa’s friends made his heart feel full. Having such a great group of friends really helped him feel less lonely. Seonghwa felt guilty for relying on Yunho’s company so much in the past and hoped that the younger didn’t resent him for it. 

Seonghwa was also beyond grateful for everything his friends did, especially Hongjoong. He was looking forward to going to the fair with Hongjoong a little more than he presented himself to be. Seonghwa and Hongjoong hadn’t known each other for too long, but Hongjoong never hesitated to stand up to anyone trying to give Seonghwa a hard time and he was always supportive of Aurora. 


	9. Rebirth

It had been a few days since the group stayed over together and most of them had parted ways to go home for the holidays. Once they were gone, Hongjoong figured it was the perfect time to see if Seonghwa was available to go to the fair.

\----

Hongjoong set a quick text that he was pulling into Seonghwa’s apartment complex when he was at a stop sign and put his phone down before continuing to the house. He parked in a spot and smiled to himself when he saw Seonghwa exit the building and offer a smile and wave to Hongjoong as he went to the passenger seat. 

“Hey.” Seonghwa said as he got into the car and put his bag on the ground near his legs. 

“Here, you can put that in my back seat.” Hongjoong took Seonghwa’s bag and gently put it on the seats in the back seat of his car. Once he did so, he looked over at Seonghwa. 

“Ready?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Definitely.” Seonghwa nodded, visibly excited. 

Hongjoong drove them to the fair and managed to find a spot relatively close to the front. He parked the car and took the tickets from where he placed the envelope containing them in the cup holder in his car. Hongjoong handed one of the tickets to Seonghwa and glanced at him. 

“Not that you don’t look great, but aren’t you going to be cold?” Hongjoong quirked a brow. 

“I think I’ll be okay.” Seonghwa looked at his turtleneck. “You don’t think it will be warm enough?”

“Well, maybe, but it can get cold on some of the rides because of the wind.” Hongjoong responded. 

“I didn’t even think of that. I’m dumb.” Seonghwa chuckled. “Sorry.”

“What? Don’t be sorry!” Hongjoong laughed. “I got you.”

Hongjoong got out of his car and went to his trunk, where he pulled out a leather jacket. 

“I keep this in my car for emergencies like this.” Hongjoong handed the jacket to Seonghwa when the older got out of the car. “Go ahead and wear it.” 

“Oh, it’s okay. You should wear it.” Seonghwa responded. 

“No worries, I have a trench coat in my back seat.” Hongjoong excused himself to get his jacket and put it on. “See?”

“I owe you.” Seonghwa smiled and put on the jacket. 

“See? Looks great.” Hongjoong locked his car. “Let’s head over.”

Hongjoong led the way and Seonghwa followed suit. They had to wait in line to exchange their tickets for wristbands. Once they got them, Hongjoong took one of them and put it on Seonghwa’s wrist before putting one on himself. 

“The green circle on it means we are of age to drink, so you don’t have to worry about taking out your ID.” Hongjoong said. 

“That’s convenient.” Seonghwa looked around the fair in awe. “This place is so cool.”

“I’m so glad you like it. Where do you want to go first?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Hmm.” Seonghwa hummed. “What about the little roller coaster thing?” 

“The one definitely meant for children and not twenty-two-year-old men? I’m down.” Hongjoong grinned. “Come on, but stay close. This place gets crowded.”

Seonghwa looked over the moon while they were on the ride. It was had for Hongjoong to not look at him and, apparently, he wasn’t the only one. Hongjoong knew Seonghwa was outstandingly attractive, but it seemed that the large amount of college students at the fair thought so, as well. 

“Have you noticed that pretty much everyone here is staring at you?” Hongjoong asked as they made their way to the haunted house ride. 

“You’re absolutely exaggerating.” Seonghwa laughed. “It’s you they’re looking at.”

“No, no.” Hongjoong shook his head. “Be extra careful, someone might try and snatch you away from me.” 

Seonghwa linked arms with Hongjoong and smiled at him. “Now they can’t.”

“Good.” Hongjoong glanced quickly at Seonghwa. “Let’s go.”

Hongjoong and Seonghwa enjoyed a few more rides before they took a break to order a funnel cake and popcorn. Hongjoong also grabbed some drinks for them before they sat down. 

“Are you enjoying yourself so far?” Honjoong took a fork full of the funnel cake and ice cream for Seonghwa. “Not sure I should have asked you a question as I feed you.”

“Yes.” Seonghwa covered his mouth. “Thank you again. You really could have taken someone else.”

“I didn’t want to.” Seonghwa took a piece of popcorn. “I wanted to take you.”

“Sorry I keep saying dumb stuff like that. Besides the guys, I’ve never had anyone actually want to do something like this with me.” Seonghwa shrugged. 

“It’s because people are stupid and apparently intimidated by you.” Hongjoong took a drink of his obviously watered down beer. 

Seonghwa blushed. He wasn’t used to being complimented as much as Hongjoong complimented him. 

After they ate, they were going to try a few fair games. Seonghwa had been eyeing the dart toss since they entered the fair and Hongjoong wanted to make sure they were able to play. 

“Here, hand me your drink, so you can pl-“ Hongjoong was interrupted by a loud voice. 

“Hey, it’s you.” A male approached Hongjoong. Hongjoong couldn’t recognize the male until he saw a yellow tinge on the male’s cheek. 

“Yep.” Hongjoong responded, moving so he was in front of Seonghwa. “And you are?” He had to stop himself from grinning. 

“You know who I am, you bastard. I kicked your ass at the bar.” The male crossed his arms. 

“You have to be a little more specific. I’ve never had my ass kicked by an ugly asshole like yourself. You’ve got the wrong guy.” Hongjoong responded. 

“Want me to remind you? The name’s Ilsung.” The male, Ilsung, said. 

“I don’t remember asking.” Hongjoong took a drink of his beer. 

“Looks like you’re even dumber than I thought, hanging out with that loser.” Ilsung grinned. 

“What loser?” Hongjoong tilted his head in curiosity. 

“The one behind you.” Ilsung said. 

“There’s no loser behind me, but there is one in front of me.” Hongjoong responded. “Look, I advise you to leave. Do you really want to make a fool of yourself in front of all of these people?”

“Me make a fool of myself? Look at you, you’re defending a freak. He’s always been a freak.” Ilsung glared at Seonghwa. 

“You sound like the kind of guy who peaked in high school and try to live out the golden years by being the same dickhead you were when people actually cared about you and your hairline was an inch lower than it is now.” Hongjoong rolled his eyes 

“What the fuck did you say?” Ilsung walked towards Hongjoong. 

“Ilsung, stop.” Seonghwa moved past Hongjoong. “Seriously, leave him alone. You never even bothered to get to know me, so how do you know the kind of person I am?” 

“I didn’t have to get to know you. You probably would have tried to hook up with me, anyway.” Ilsung sneered at Seonghwa. 

“Hey, if you’’re confused about your sexuality, you could have come to talk with me peacefully. You didn’t have to act really insecure and take it out on other people. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.” Seonghwa couldn’t hold back anymore.

“I’m not gay, what the fuck?” Ilsung’s face reddened. “I’m talking about you.”

“Oh, so being quiet in school because I was going through someone horrible that no one seemed to even care about makes me come off as being gay? That’s news to me. You know, it was extremely hard for me every day and no one cared. I don’t expect people to ask me what’s wrong, but I would be hopeful that they wouldn’t assume things about me. Do you not even realize what that does to a person?” Seonghwa questioned. “You know, the more I talk to you, the more I remember you. I wanted to be your friend the first day of classes because you seemed to be a really charismatic guy. Next thing I know, you join in with all of the people calling me names. Do you remember when you and your friends would shove me into the wall and laughed about it? I remember it. Did it make you feel better? Did you get further in life by bringing me down? We’re in our twenties, Ilsung, and you’re attacking me and my friend when we are just trying to enjoy ourselves. I’m happy where I am now, I have a band and friends that I adore. If you said all of those things so I wouldn’t succeed in life, you failed.”

Ilsung’s face reddened even more, especially since people stopped to observe what was happening. 

“You’re nothing, your band is shit.” Ilsung awkwardly chuckled. 

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Hongjoong interjected. “What else do you have to say, besides giving an apology to Seonghwa? You tried to damage him and it didn’t work out. So, just drop it, man. Let it go and move on.”

“He should apologize to me.” Ilsung grabbed the collar of Hongjoong’s sweater, causing some beer to spill onto his trench coat. Hongjoong looked at Ilsung’s balled up fist and smirked. 

“Go ahead.” Hongjoong smirked even wider. “Do it. Punch me. Show everyone who you really are and get kicked out of here.” 

“Don’t mind if I do.” Ilsung grinned. Instead of going for Hongjoong, he turned to Seonghwa and tried to swing, but Hongjoong pushed him away and took a knee to the ribs instead. 

“Get back, dude.” A random guy in the crowd grabbed Ilsung by the arm. “Leave them alone.” 

“Can someone get security?” The woman next to the man asked. 

Not long after, security came and kicked Ilsung out, as well as permanently banning him. Seonghwa declined any first-aid and told the security he just wanted to enjoy the fair with his friend. 

Once the antics died down, Hongjoong got up from the bench where security led him and Seonghwa. His ribs hurt, but he was fine. 

“Are you okay, Seonghwa?” Hongjoong asked. 

“Me? I’m totally fine. You’re the one who got hurt.” Seonghwa stood up as well. 

“But he tried to punch you.” Hongjoong fixed his sweater. 

“But he didn’t.” Seonghwa responded. “Thank you again. I feel so badly you got hurt because of me.”

“No, I chose to intervene. I can’t stand people like him.” Hongjoong bit the inside of his cheek in frustration. “I’m sorry he said all of those things.”

“You know, I’m kind of glad he did. That was the first time I ever talked back to someone.” Seonghwa offered Hongjoong a small smile. 

“And I’m really proud of you for doing that.” Hongjoong smiled back. 

“Maybe we can go play some games now? I owe you a beer, since you’re wearing half of yours.” Seonghwa said. 

“Sure, but you don’t owe me anything.” Hongjoong responded. “Sorry if I’m kind of slow. The knee in the ribs didn’t feel too great. I feel a little wobbly.”

“Want some help?” Seonghwa offered. “I can lead the way, so you don’t get lost.” He extended his hand. 

“That sounds good, thank you.” Hongjoong nodded in agreement. 

…

Hongjoong and Seonghwa enjoyed the rest of the fair, including the ferris wheel and a few more drinks, before going back to Hongjoong’s. 

Hongjoong held back on drinking too much since he was driving, but he and Seonghwa had a beer when they got back to Hongjoong’s place. 

“I didn’t know you would be so good at fair games.” Hongjoong took a drink of his beer. “You won enough things to open your own toy store.” He joked. 

“Nah.” Seonghwa chuckled. “It was good luck, promise.” 

“If you say so.” Hongjoong winked. 

The two took a ton of blankets and set them out, much like they did when the group all stayed together and watched a movie. 

Seonghwa had mixed emotions. He was really happy to be spending time with Hongjoong and he admired the younger immensely for standing up for him. But, on the other hand, he felt guilty. He didn’t know why, but he did. 

“So,” Seonghwa whispered, since they were watching a movie, “Has Hyunggu messaged you at all?” 

“Oh,” Hongjoong laughed, “I have to be honest, I completely forgot to even respond to his messages today.”

“What? You’re going to leave him hanging?” Seonghwa looked surprised.

“Hanging about what?” Hongjoong raised his brow. 

“He likes you.” Seonghwa responded. “If you like him too, you should message him now.”

“Then I won’t message him.” Hongjoong laughed. “I like him as a friend, but not romantically.”

“Oh.” Seonghwa said. “I thought you did.”

“No.” Hongjoong chuckled. “What about you? Now that you’re getting more fans, I’m sure you’ve gotten some numbers.” 

It was Seonghwa’s turn to laugh. “I don’t really want to bring anyone new into my circle and start a relationship. I’m happy with how things are now.”

“Then you’ve gotta date within the friend group, my guy.” Hongjoong joked. “Take your pick.”

“Very funny.” Seonghwa rolled his eyes. 

“What’s so funny about that?” Hongjoong asked, no malice in his tone. “You’ve got a great personality and you certainly have the looks.”

“Can I kiss you?” Seonghwa asked, catching Hongjoong off-guard.

“What?” Hongjoong’s jaw almost dropped. “Okay, you definitely drank way more than I thought.”

“Sorry, it was stupid of me to ask.” Seonghwa looked embarrassed. “I’m dumb.”

“What? No, why?” Hongjoong tried to meet Seonghwa’s eyes.

“Because that was just my stupid brain. As soon as someone stands up for me, apparently I ask stupid questions.” Seonghwa laughed at himself. 

“Then, have you asked Yunho to kiss you? Maybe Jongho?” Hongjoong questioned. 

“No way.” Seonghwa shook his head. 

“They stand up for you too.” Hongjoong pointed out. 

Seonghwa reddened. “Okay, you don’t have to mess with me.”

“Really, I’m not. I just wasn’t expecting you to ask something like that.” Hongjoong said. “I’m glad you haven’t made moves on anyone else then, even though they have defended you.” 

“Because I would be sorely rejected?” Seonghwa asked. 

“No, because I would have been jealous.” Hongjoong responded. “I got jealous when that girl was talking to you at the bar.”

“Liar.” Seonghwa looked at Hongjoong. 

Instead of responding with words, Hongjoong went in and kissed Seonghwa. 

It wasn’t a long kiss, but just enough for Hongjoong to prove a point to Seonghwa. 

“Okay, you got your point across.” Seonghwa said after they parted. 

Nothing else happened after the kiss and the two continued to relax a bit more before falling asleep next to each other on a mound of blankets. 

...


	10. Composure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice that some of the messages between two people look as if they are a group chat, I used to do that deliberately to make it clear who is in the conversation and those screenshots are older!

....

Hongjoong closed the cafe and heaved a sigh of relief. 

“Finally.” Hongjoong threw his jacket on and headed home. While he was walking, Hongjoong messaged the group chat before calling Seonghwa. He didn’t know why he called the older male, but he wanted to talk to him. Sure, they texted, but he hadn’t heard his voice in a while. 

_ “Hey, Hongjoong.”  _ Seonghwa’s voice came from Hongjoong’s phone.  _ “Are you done with work?”  _

“Yes, finally. I can’t wait to collapse onto my bed. It might be kind of hard because Yeosang texted me saying Jongho is over, which means they are probably playing video games very enthusiastically.” Hongjoong said. 

_ “Probably.”  _ Seonghwa laughed  _ “By the way, I was talking with the guys because they’re at the apartment and we’re figuring out something for tomorrow and New Years. Are you going to stay over?”  _

“Yeah, of course.” Hongjoong nodded, although Seonghwa couldn’t see. 

_ “Cool. I’ll message Jongho, too. Yunho will be back early tomorrow morning.”  _ Seonghwa said. 

“Sounds great to me.” Hongjoong responded. “Sorry for calling you, by the way. My finger worked faster than my brain. I just missed hearing your voice.”

_ “I missed talking to you, too.”  _ Hongjoong felt relieved when Seonghwa said that.  _ “I’m glad we get to see each other tomorrow.” _

“Same here. I know you’re hanging with the guys now, so I’ll text you. I’m almost home anyway.” Hongjoong rounded the corner. He was close to hishome. 

_ “You’re not bothering me, but I do want you to get some rest. Make sure you put your phone on silent, because we will probably plan everything in the group chat and then you can just read it in the morning.” Seonghwa said.  _

“Perfect.” Hongjoong responded. “Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow...I’m looking forward to it.”

_ “Me too.”  _ Seonghwa sounded happy.  _ “Goodnight, Hongjoong.” _

Hongjoong pocketed his phone and got to his home before he unlocked the door. 

“Hongjoong, tell Yeosang that no one plays as Kirby in Smash. Please.” Jongho ran to Hongjoong. 

“No, don’t tell him that.” Yeosang crossed his arms. “We didn’t go over to his and Seonghwa’s place because we have been having a duel in Smash. He really thinks that Kirby is a good character. All he does is steal other character’s abilities. He’s useless and he’s not even cute.” 

“You take that back.” Jongho’s head snapped in Yeosang’s direction. “At least I don’t play as Ness like some people.”

“Woah, woah.” Yeosang held up his hands. “Are you insulting my actual child? The best character in Smash? Makes sense coming from a person who voluntarily chooses to play the Wii Fit trainer.”

“Better than playing Marth, also known as the perfect character for someone who isn’t skilled and simply button mashes.” Jongho grinned at Yeosang’s direction. 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes and began to walk away. “We all know that the best character is Sheik, so do with that information as you will. Goodnight.” He saluted the two as he went to his room and practically collapsed onto his bed. 

…

It felt nice for Hongjoong to wake up the next day and not have any responsibilities. Aurora was getting together and filming some videos for the new year and doing live-streams for a while, so Hongjoong was going to spend some time with his roommates, minus Mingi. 

“Good morning.” Hongjoong looked up from where he was pouring his cup of coffee and at Yeosang. “Did you manage to get to sleep? I didn’t even hear Jongho leave.”

“He did really late.” Yeosang yawned. “And then San and Wooyoung were being loud as hell.”

“I don’t want to know how, so please don’t tell me.” Hongjoong pourned another cup of coffee. “It is nice that everyone is back now.”

“For sure.” Yeosang nodded. 

“Hey!” Wooyoung’s voice echoed through the hall. “San has to go into work for a few hours around noon for the early drunks and I’m going to be bored. Do you guys want to catch a movie?”

Hongjoong and Yeosang glanced at each other. 

“Yeah.” Yeosang shrugged. “Sure.”

“I’m good with that, too.” Hongjoong agreed. “What time?”

The three ended up going to the movies and then going to the bar to get San on the way back. They lingered at the bar for a bit longer than they wanted because the owner was there and, as much as San tried to get Jinyoung to go away, he insisted that the guys needed to stay and chat with him. 

“By the way, one of the guys who works at the bar is having a pre-new years party and invited me and whoever I want. You guys don’t have to go,” San paused to reach for Wooyoung’s hand, “But I figured it would be fun. He’s actually a pretty big fan of Aurora, so I was thinking it would be cool to invite them. I’m almost one hundred percent sure he has a crush on Yunho.” 

“Poor Yunho is going to be so oblivious.” Yeosang grinned. “I’m in.”

“I’ll text the group chat.” Wooyoung used his free hand to pull out his phone. 

After Wooyoung sent the message, the group video chatted them and agreed to meet up with them at the party, since they would be going from different places. San texted them the address and they agreed to meet there at seven. Since they were going to have their own small party for the new year on actual New Year’s Eve, they weren’t planning on staying for long. 

.

San knocked on the door of the house where the party was being held and Yeosang heaved a sigh. 

“I’m regretting this already. I don’t know why I pretend I’m social.” Yeosang crossed his arms. 

“I think he has some cats and maybe a dog.” San looked at Yeosang. 

“Perfect.” Yeosang grinned. “Now this will be slightly tolerable.”

“Hey! Welcome.” A silver-haired male smiled as he opened the door. 

“Here we are.” San waved to the male. “I know I’ve introduced you to Wooyoung, but these guys are Hongjoong and Yeosang.”

“Come on in, guys.” The male ushered them through the doorframe. “I’m Xiao Dejun, but you can call me Dejun or Xiaojun.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Yeosang smiled. “And excuse me. I saw a cat.” 

Yeosang headed into the house and Dejun chuckled. He was about to close the door when Jongho’s voice came from outside. 

“Wait, don’t close it. These beers cost me way too much to drop.” Jongho came into the house.

“Wow, Jongho.” Dejun looked surprised. 

“The rest of Aurora is here, too.” San said. 

Yunho and Mingi came through the door frame, Mingi’s arm thrown around Yunho’s shoulders. 

“Thank you for inviting us.” Yunho smiled. “I recognize you from the bar!”

“Thank you for coming. I’ve always wanted to properly introduce myself to you guys.” Dejun smiled shyly. 

“Well, now you can! Let’s get drinks.” Mingi nodded. 

San and Wooyoung joined and the group went to the kitchen. Hongjoong was going to follow until he heard Seonghwa behind him. 

“Hey.” Seonghwa offered Hongjoong a small wave. He looked great in a denim jacket with a deep red button down underneath paired with tight black pants. 

“Hey.” Hongjoong responded. “How did filming go?”

“It was tiring.” Seonghwa closed the door. “How was the movie?”

“Boring,” Hongjoong walked into the he main room and picked up two beers from a cooler and handed one to Seonghwa. Seonghwa pulled down his sleeve to twist the cap off, “Since I didn’t pick it, it was a bit predictable.”

“Too bad I couldn’t have gone.” Seonghwa sighed. “The live was fun, though. I just feel like we haven’t had much time to ta-“

“Excuse me, are you Seonghwa?” A blonde girl in a group surrounding the couches in the main room asked. 

“Yes, hello.” Seonghwa smiled warmly at the girl. 

“No way, we all love Aurora. Mari,” A blue haired male nodded to the blonde girl, “Introduced you guys to us.”

“You guys are amazing.” Another girl said. 

“Wow, thank you.” Seonghwa bowed. “The rest of the guys are here, too.”

“No way.” A brunette male’s jaw dropped. “It’s our lucky day.” 

“You’re my favorite member, though, so it was cool to see you first.” The girl they mentioned earlier, Mari, smiled. “My girlfriend’s favorite is Jongho, so she will flip if she sees him. She’s somewhere around here, too.”

“I’ll let you talk with them.” Hongjoong whispered. “You can find me later, if you want.” 

“No,” Seonghwa reached for his hand to stop him, “You’re not in the way.”

“They’re your fans, though.” Hongjoong responded. “I can get the guys. I’m sure they would prefer to talk with you guys.”

“Oh my God, there they are.” Another guy in the group sat up. 

Luckily, Mingi, Jongho, and Yunho came over and quickly gained the attention of the group talking with Seonghwa. It seemed that a lot of people were familiar with Aurora and it made Hongjoong happy to see people being positive. It was well deserved for Aurora, for Seonghwa. Seeing people disrespect such a wonderful person had to stop. 

...

The party was pretty decent and more people came around to greet Aurora and Hongjoong eventually made his rounds at the party before hanging out with Yeosang for a bit. The two found a few vacant beanbags and a Play Station, so they played some games before heading out with San, Wooyoung, and Mingi. Seonghwa, Yunho, and Jongho left after them. 

It was okay that they didn’t get to spend too much time together because they were going to spend New Year’s Eve together. Hongjoong was excited, as was everyone else. 

\----

“I hope the house is warm.” Yunho shivered while they waited for the door to open. “No wonder Wooyoung didn’t want to get the ice.”

“Your fault.” Jongho shrugged, cradling various bottles of liquor. “You’re too nice.”

“Want to hold the pot?” Seonghwa offered the slightly warm pot of tteokgukk to Yunho. “We can switch.” 

“Don’t worry,” Yunho smiled at his best friend, “I think I hear someone.”

Yeosang emerged once the door opened and let them in. 

“Pretty much everyone is in the kitchen, but I’m stealing Jongho. We have to play Mario Party. He seems like the type to play as Daisy. No one likes Daisy.” Yeosang set the bottles down that Jongho was holding onto a side table and grabbed the younger’s wrist. 

“I agree, no one likes Daisy.” Jongho replied. “But I play as Waluigi.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” Yeosang said. 

“Why don’t we wait, so we can all play together?” Yunho suggested. 

“We will play again. I need to kick this kid’s ass and humble him before we all play.” Yeosang yanked on Jongho’s wrist. 

Yunho rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen with Seonghwa in tow. 

“Ice in the freezer?” Yunho asked Wooyoung, who was chopping some green onions. 

“Yes, you sweet angel.” Wooyoung noted how red Yunho’s hands were. “I could kiss you.”

“No, you couldn’t.” San hit Wooyoung’s bicep. 

“It’s a figure of speech, babe.” Wooyoung glared at San. “Plus, you really want to hit me? I’m the one with the knife.”

“You two.” Mingi sighed. “Hey, want to set that down, Hwa? There’s a vacant burner here.” 

“Sure, thank you.” Seonghwa put the pot down on the burner behind the one Hongjoong was using. He turned the burner onto low and took the lid off. 

“Wow, it looks great.” Hongjoong eyed the soup before looking at Seonghwa. “Impressive.”

Seonghwa laughed. “Same to you. You guys look like you have been busy.”

“That we have.” Mingi set down a stirring spoon. “Someone was waving a knife around earlier and caught someone taking something out of the oven off-guard and said person got a nasty burn. And, by the person waving the knife, I mean me and, by the person burned, I mean Hongjoong.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Hongjoong waved Mingi away. “I’ve been through worse.”

“Where?” Seonghwa questioned. He couldn’t see a burn. 

“I had my sleeves rolled up.” Hongjoong paused what he was doing to pull up the sleeve of his sweater and revealed a few large bandages on his forearm. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Let me take over.” Seonghwa responded. “You can relax.”

“Nah, but you can work by my side.” Hongjoong grinned.

Seonghwa met Hongjoong half way and agreed. 


	11. Solace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is is! I hope the readers enjoyed!

Once the food was done, San made drinks and the group ate and enjoyed everyone’s company. 

“I’m glad we were all able to come back in time to celebrate together.” Jongho handed Wooyoung a controller. 

Yeosang pouted in the corner, arms crossed over his chest. He must have lost. 

“Me too.” Mingi responded. “By the way, I should have said it, but you guys could have invited any plus one or twos. I don’t know if any of the singles had a hot date to bring.”

“Oh yeah, maybe Joong did?” Jongho looked at Hongjoong. 

“No, I don’t.” Hongjoong laughed. 

“The guy from the bar?” Jongho asked. He must have not gotten the memo, or he was messing with Hongjoong. 

“He’s nice, but I don’t think out personalities would work together well if we dated.” Hongjoong shrugged. “I don’t care, though. I’m not interested in him.”

“Then, who are you interested in?” Jongho smirked. He knew exactly what he was doing. 

“That’s not something for you to worry about.” Hongjoong pointed a finger at Jongho. “Now, are we going to play or what?”

Seonghwa chuckled lightly next to Hongjoong and grabbed the controller Jongho left in front of him. 

Hongjoong and Seonghwa hadn’t talked about the kiss, so Seonghwa didn’t know if Hongjoong actually liked him and Hongjoong didn’t know if Seonghwa liked him. Hongjoong was under the impression that Seonghwa was too out of his league to even attempt to date. 

.

“I’m going to step out for a bit, does anyone want to join?” Mingi started to walk towards the door that lead to the backyard.

“I could go for a smoke, sure.” San stood up from the couch. 

“Wait, you smoke?” Yeosang eyed San. “I never smell cigarettes.”

“I never said I smoked cigarettes.” San winked. “Kidding. I don’t smoke and, even if I did, I couldn’t when dating Wooyoung. He hates the smell.”

“Facts.” Wooyoung relaxed into the couch. “I’ll hang here.”

“I’ll come.” Hongjoong got up. 

Mingi, San, and Hongjoong went to the backyard and relaxed on the comfortable sofas that surrounded a fire pit. 

“Why don’t we use this?” Mingi asked, pointing at the fire pit. “It might be nice since it’s cold as shit and being outside makes me feel less like a lazy piece of garbage.”

“I’ll ask the guys when I feel like getting up.” The wind tousled San’s hair lightly. 

“I can go ask. I’ll grab some blankets, anyway.” Hongjoong got up and went into the house. He found the group exactly where they left them, given it hadn’t been too long since Hongjoong went outside. 

“Do you guys want to hang out by the fire pit?” Hongjoong asked. “I’m going to go grab some blankets.”

“Hell yeah.” Jongho stood up. “Sounds like fun.”

“I’m in, too.” Wooyoung held his hand out for Jongho to help him up and Jongho slapped his hand away and grinned. 

Instead, Seonghwa helped Wooyoung up and smiled at Hongjoong before following Jongho outside. Hongjoong went to his room to grab some spare blankets and brought them out with him. 

Yunho was fiddling with a lighter by the fire pit, Yeosang and Wooyoung snickering at him. 

“Yunho, it’s electric. I don’t know why they didn’t tell you.” Hongjoong handed Mingi the blankets before kneeling down on the opposite side of the fire pit and pressing a button. 

Mingi handed out the blankets and everyone sat around the fire. 

“We need marshmallows and sausages to cook over the fire.” Mingi said. “I should have gotten some.”

“And sweet potatoes.” Jongho added. 

“Want me to go to the store? It’s a super short walk.” Hongjoong offered. 

“Don’t worry, that’s out of your way. Next time.” Yunho smiled at Hongjoong. 

“No, I definitely want it now.” Jongho pouted. 

“And that’s supposed to make him go how?” Yeosang raised a brow. “He will go to the store just to satisfy your wants?”

“Yes, because I’m the baby.” Jongho crossed his arms. “You’re just bitter.”

“I’m definitely not.” Yeosang rolled his eyes. 

“It’s fine, I’ll go for everyone. Sweet potatoes and sausages, got it.” Hongjoong felt his back pocket for his wallet. 

“And marshmallows.” Wooyoung added. He threw a blanket over his and San’s legs. 

“Want me to come with?” Seonghwa asked. He didn’t want Hongjoong to go alone. 

“Yes, you two should definitely go. Together.” Yunho said. If he was trying to help Seonghwa out with his situation, he wasn’t doing a very good job. 

“Sure.” Hongjoong responded. “Ready?”

Seonghwa nodded and he and Hongjoong were on their way to the convenience store. 

“Sorry if you felt pressured to join me.” Hongjoong pocketed his hands. “There’s no fire, so I hope you aren’t too cold.”

“I’m good, don’t worry.” Seonghwa responded. “I wanted to come, they didn’t pressure me or anything.”

“Okay, good.” Hongjoong sighed. “Are you enjoying your night so far? The tteokguk was incredible, by the way.”

“Aw,” Seonghwa blushed, “Thank you. And, yes, I am. It feels like it’s been forever since we could all hang out.”

“Agreed.” Hongjoong laughed. “I’m glad no one brought any plus ones, because it can sometimes be exhausting trying to entertain someone you’re unfamiliar with.”

“Tell me about it.” Seonghwa stopped and pressed the button for the crosswalk. “Even though it’s not in person, I always feel nervous trying to make conversation on lives with the fans.”

“But you’re becoming more comfortable with it, for sure. I can tell.” Hongjoong tried to reassure Seonghwa. “And the people at the party adored you.” 

“It’s because of your help. All of your standing up for me had really shown me that I need to not stay hidden and let the guys take over. It’s hard on them and people still view me as a freak if I’m quiet.” Seonghwa started to walk on the crosswalk. 

“Which is beyond me. How someone could think ill of you is ridiculous. Sorry, I know I’ve been over this a lot.” Hongjoong said. He stopped at the door to the convenience store and opened it for Seonghwa. The two purchased various items and headed back. 

“Thanks again for coming with me.” Hongjoong grinned at Seonghwa. 

“Of course.” Seonghwa responded. “Happy to do so. Also…” He hesitated.

“ I think you and I both want to bring up the same topic.” Hongjoong chuckled. “You first.”

“Oh great, the person who can’t deal with confrontation.” Seonghwa took a deep breath. “Okay, uh, so...the kiss. Was that a sympathy thing, or…?” He trailed off. 

“A sympathy thing?” Hongjoong was taken aback by Seonghwa’s comment. “Why would you think that?”

“You said some really nice stuff, but I’m pretty sure you did that because I’ve never kissed anyone before and wanted me to feel better about myself.” Seonghwa responded. 

“I hope you’re joking. I wouldn’t kiss someone just to do it.” Hongjoong clarified. “I meant what I said. I’m very attracted to you, if that helps. It just seems like to me that you don’t realize who you are and that there are many people who also are very attracted to you.” 

“I...wasn’t expecting that.” Seonghwa said. 

“I feel like I stole your first kiss from you.” Hongjoong laughed. “I’m sorry about that.”

“I mean, I was definitely hoping it would happen. And I asked.” Seonghwa responded. The house came into view. “Like I said, I was jealous when I thought you were interested in someone else, like I somehow expected you to like me.”

“Well, I do like you.” Hongjoong assured the older. “Not the guy from the bar, not some random person who messages me, you. Also, you act like you’re shitty at kissing, which you aren’t. I mean, it was quick and all, but definitely memorable.”

“I could say the same.” Seonghwa looked over at Hongjoong. “Maybe we can practice more later...if you want.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Hongjoong smiled. “You’re quite bold when you want to be, Park Seonghwa.”

Seonghwa laughed. “I don’t know about bold. I’m just trying to express that I like you instead of brooding while someone else flirts with you.”

Hongjoong opened the door and let Seonghwa in first. “I understand that, don’t worry.”

Seonghwa and Hongjoong went outside with the bags full of items they purchased. 

“Welcome back, but please solve this argument before you get comfortable.” Wooyoung said. “Jongho has the audacity to believe that ...I don’t even want to say it...he believes that Fallout 4 is better than Fallout 3.”

“It is!” Jongho shouted. “Have you ever had Nick Valentine as your companion? He’s way better than any idiot in Fallout 3.”

“You take that back, you disgusting creature. You have no taste whatsoever. The plot in 3 is far superior and I don’t have to be fucking cryogenically frozen in that one.” Wooyoung glared at Jongho. 

“What’s wrong with that? It’s all about the future, baby.” Jongho crossed his arms. “Stupid.”

“Alright, let’s stop right there.” Yunho held up a hand to tell them to stop. 

“Thank you.” Seonghwa breathed a sigh of relief and set the items out that they got and everyone took what they wanted. 

Hongjoong sat down while Seonghwa handed Yunho a drink he got for him at the convenience store. 

“You know me so well.” Yunho smiled at Seonghwa. “Thank you! They don’t sell this at many places anymore.”

“That’s why I got excited when I saw it.” Seonghwa smiled back at Yunho. 

Seonghwa glanced over at Hongjoong, who slid to the side of the couch and pat the spot next to him. Seonghwa went over and sat next to Hongjoong and Hongjoong threw a blanket over their legs. 

Yunho gave Seonghwa a quizzical look and Seonghwa returned a ‘we will talk later’ expression with the taller. 

“Thanks again for going to get these, guys.” Wooyoung happily ate a marshmallow. “This is a pretty damn good New Year’s Eve.”

“Right? It feels nice to have everyone here.” Mingi poked one of the sweet potatoes on the fire with a stick. 

“There isn’t too much time until midnight, but I have a few card games we could play.” Yeosang fixed his hair. 

“Oh, go fish? No thanks.” Jongho reached for a sweet potato and pulled his hand back. “Ouch.”

“Karma.” Yeosang rolled his eyes. “I mean Cards Against Humanity.”

“That sounds like fun.” San grinned. 

“Do you still have it in your room, Joong?” Yeosang asked. “With all the board games?”

“Yeah, I’ll go check.” Hongjoong took the blanket off and got up. “Lend me a hand, Seonghwa?”

“Sure thing.” Seonghwa also got up. 

“But...it doesn't take two people to lift a card game. Why do both of you need to go?” Wooyoung furrowed his brow. 

“Because it’s...under a lot of things…” Hongjoong coughed. “Anyway.” He grabbed Seonghwa’s hand and they headed inside. 

Hongjoong and Seonghwa went to Hongjoong’s room and Hongjoong went to the bookcase in his room where all of his games were. 

“Thank you.” Seonghwa laughed. “It was getting cold.”

“I know, I could feel your leg shaking.” Hongjoong turned back to Seonghwa before looking back at the bookshelf. 

Seonghwa grabbed the game and stood back up. 

“Besides,” Hongjoong said, “I figured we could have a little practice, if you want.” He grinned. 

Seonghwa shyly smiled but approached Hongjoong. “Okay, but don’t tell me how bad I am at this. Let me live in ignorance.”

…

“Took you long enough.” San joked when Hongjoong and Seonghwa came back outside. 

“Yeah, it was...not where it was supposed to be.” Hongjoong hurriedly gave the card game to Mingi.

“I just organized that stuff, so I know for sure it was th-“ Jongho was cut off by Yunho chiming in as he helped Mingi deal the cards. 

“Awesome, let’s play.” 

Everyone grabbed their cards and Yeosang was deemed the judge for the first round. He pulled the first card and set it down face-up.

“I never thought I would, blank, blank, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks.” Yeosang read the card. “This is going to be interesting.”

Yeosang watched everyone set down a card before shuffling them and looking at the first card. 

“Oh God, I never thought I would hook up with a furry, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks.” Yeosang quirked a brow and continued to read them, mumbling under his breath as he set each card down after he read it.

“I never thought I would have sex for the first time with an animorphe fish person, but twenty bucks is twenty bucks.” Yeosang set down the card and grinned. “Wooyoung, isn’t that like your ex?”

Wooyoung glared daggers at Yeosang. “Shut up and pick a winner.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll pick the fall in love with my cousin one.” Yeosang said.

“That sounds very...southern.” Jongho said under his breath.

“Thank you.” San reached for the card. “Your turn, Seonghwa.” 

The group played for a while longer until they realized that there were only a few minutes until the new year. Yunho and Seonghwa quickly packed up the cards before they all gathered together and counted down. 

...

“ Three! Two! One!”

“Happy New Year!” Mingi was the first one to say it. “Here’s to another year with Aurora and good friends.” 

“Happy New Year!” Yunho wrapped his arms around as many of his friends as he could. 

“Happy New Year.” San hugged Wooyoung separately after Yunho released him and kissed Wooyoung. 

“Let’s watch the fireworks, guys.” Jongho sat in the grass and looked up at the sky. 

Seonghwa and Hongjoong sat next to each other. They both had a lot to say, but neither one wanted to go first. 

Eventually, Hongjoong cracked. 

“Seonghwa,” Hongjoong looked over at the other male, “I have a question.”

Seonghwa glanced over at Hongjoong, the colors of the fireworks illuminating his face. “What’s up?”

“Would it be cheesy and predictable if I properly asked you out on New Year’s?” Hongjoong asked.

“No, because I would have if you didn’t.” Seonghwa grinned.

Hongjoong smiled back and pulled Seonghwa closer to him. 

“You’re spending the night, right?” Hongjoong questioned. He already knew the answer. 

“Yeah.”

“Good.” 

…

“Um,” Wooyoung eyed Hongjoong and Seonghwa quizzically as they descended the stairs, “Guess I was too drunk to realize you guys weren’t sleeping down here with us. Or did you wake up early and go upstairs?”

“We slept in my room.” Hongjoong went into the kitchen and poured two mugs of coffee. 

“We?” Wooyoung raised a brow.

“Yes.” Hongjoong responded. “We.”

“Are you guys…?” Wooyoung set down his mug of mostly milk, a little coffee. 

“Yeah.” Seonghwa smiled. “It’s all really new, so sorry for not saying anything.”

“Saying anything about what?” Mingi entered the kitchen with everyone following. Yunho had promised them breakfast, so they didn’t waste any time hounding him until he decided what to make. 

“Them dating.” Wooyoung looked at the group.

“He asked me out last night. That’s why we didn’t mention it yet.” Seonghwa said. 

“Congratulations, you guys!” Yunho beamed at the two. 

“Yeah, same. Wait, were you...shocked by this, Woo?” Jongho crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. 

“Have you been oblivious the whole time? You bought Hongjoong tickets to the fair and thought he would take someone other than Seonghwa, you didn’t get the cues that they wanted to be alone together, and now you’re shocked by this? Plus, he literally told us they kissed.” Mingi grinned. “I question you sometimes.”

“I’m just more shocked that they actually confessed. I thought they would dance around the topic for far too long.” Wooyoung shrugged.

“Nah, he was just too infatuated with me.” San walked up to Wooyoung and wrapped his arms around the other.

“Disgusting.” Yeosang rolled his eyes. “Anyway, what’s for breakfast?”

It was Seonghwa’s first holiday that truly felt complete. He had never felt more cared for by a group of people and he managed to feel more comfortable in his own skin. If Mingi hadn’t auditioned to be in Aurora, he would have never met any of them. Even though he hadn’t known Hongjoong for too long, it was easy for Seonghwa to fall for him. He hoped Hongjoong felt the same way, too. 

......

Two months later

......

\-------

“Well,” Seonghwa put down his phone and looked at Hongjoong, “That was embarrassing.”

Hongjoong started the ignition in his car. They were going to leave it at the house while they were gone. 

“Yeah, but we only spoke the truth.” Hongjoong grinned. “It’s fun to mess with them.”

“That’s true.” Seonghwa laughed. 

“Let’s sit away from them on the way there.” Hongjoong put his car into drive and instinctively reached for Seonghwa’s hand to hold. 

“Good idea.” Seonghwa smiled at the action. “But are you guys really okay with taking the metro on the way back? I don’t want you to not have the van.”

“If we took another car, it would be a waste of gas.’ Hongjoong responded. “Besides, if we all go in the van, I get to spend more time with you.”

Seonghwa squeezed Hongjoong’s hand. “I like the sound of that.”

“Oh, before I forget, no one has sent you any nasty messages, right?” Hongjoong questioned. He thought about it ever since Ilsung message him. 

“Nope, nothing.” Seonghwa responded. 

“I think the fact that you’re thriving probably makes them feel even more like shit.” Hongjoong said. “I’m glad they’re not messaging you.”

“Why?” Seonghwa smirked. “You jealous?”

“Um, yes, I absolutely am.” Hongjoong said. “I mean, look who I’m dating. Anyone would be worried someone was trying to get with you. I mean, I’m not worried, I just don’t want anyone to say shit again.”

“They won’t. If they did, I wouldn’t hesitate to do a live and talk about the kind of treatment I went through by people I used to go to school with. It wouldn’t be too great for their image. A lot of people can relate to bullying stories, so it’s not like it would be a bad thing to talk about.” Seonghwa looked out the window as he spoke.

“That’s true.” Hongjoong responded. “You know I’m always by your side, right?”

“Always.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to: Park Jinyoung (JYP) for giving me the opportunity to pay my respects to his lavish attire.
> 
> If you have any fic/social media au suggestions, you can contact me on my Twitter (cbxhan) since I can't check the ones here for certain reasons. Thank you!


End file.
